


Library of Congress. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Chap - 

SHELF- 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

— OF — 

A LA BAM A. 

EUGENE ALLEN SMITH, Ph. D., State Geologist 



REPORT 

ox THE 

CAHABA COAL F.I ELD, 

BY 

JOSEPH SQUIRE, M. E.. 

Assistant in Charge of Cahaba Field. 

WITH 
ON THE 

Geology of the Valley Regions Adjacent to the Cahaba Field 

BY 

EUGENE A. SMITH. 




With 31 Figures in the Text, 7 Plates, and a Map of the Cahiba Field 
and Adjacent Regions. 



MONTGOMERY, ALA.: 

THE BROWN PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 

1890. 



%^ 



^ 



^^;:^^ 



/:) 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



To His Excellency, 

Thomas Seat, 

Governor of Alabama : 

Sir: — I have the honor to transmit herewith, a report on 
the Cahaba Coal Field, bj Joseph Squire. In his letter of 
transmittal, Mr. Squire has given a short account of the man- 
ner in v/hich the map was first begun, and has come finally 
to be published by the Survey. From this sketch it will be 
seen that the map and report are the result of more than 
thirty years work on the part of Mr. Squire, and, at the very 
low estimate of $1,500 a year, for the compensation of the 
geologist and for the making of the tests of the seams, they 
represent an expenditure of at least $i5,000 ; the cost of the 
Survey has been only about one seventh of that sum; the 
difference has been given to the State by Mr. Squire and 
those for whom he made the explorations. I think we 
should not lose sight of these facts. To make the map 
more complete as to the parts not occupied by the Cahaba 
Field, I have added the colors showing the distribution of 
the Geological Formations in the adjacent valley regions, 
and have appended to Mr. Squire's report, by way of expla- 
nation of these colors, a short account of the lithological 
and other characters of these different geological formations, 
together with such other matter as seemed necessary to ac- 
count for the present attitude and positions of the strata of 
these formations in the valleys. In 1875, 1876, and later in 
1882, I have published maps and descriptions showing in a 
general way, the structure of these valleys, but in the pres- 
ent work, on so much larger scale than any of the previous 
ones, there was the necessity for much greater detail, and 
this needed amount of detail concerning the distribution of 
the various formations, their limits towards each other, and 
the geological structure, has come chiefly from the notes of 



Mr. McCalley, who has devoted the greater part of the last 
three or four years to the examination of this and the other 
parts of the State occupied by the rocks of the older forma- 
tions. The work of Mr. A. M. Gibson in Murphree's Val- 
ley, has also been of great service as affording the clew to 
certain types of geological structure, as will be seen in the 
body of the report, 

I have been somewhat at a loss to determine the best way 
of exhibiting the distribution of the surface beds of the 
Tuscaloosa formation in the lovvtr part of the area shown 
on the map. These beds overlie the older formations in 
patches, whose exact outlines could not possibly be deter- 
mined except by instrumental survey, the cost of which 
would have been out of all proportion to the importance of 
the information thus to be gained. It must therefore be 
understood that the map does not pretend to show the exact 
position and shape of all these overlying tracts— and the 
absence of definite dotted outlines is intended to indicate 
this — but only to express the general fact that the Creta- 
ceous beds overlie, and in places completely hide from view, 
the older geological formations. Where it has been possi- 
ble to ascertain with certainty, or with a high degree of 
probability, the distribution of these underlying formations 
in spite of the covering of Cretaceous, as is easily the case 
with the Coal Measures, we have so marked it ; but in the 
valley, where several geological formations occur in narrow 
belts, it has often been quite impossible to trace the contin- 
uity of these belts, and thus to determine the structure, 
hence the unsatisfactory condition of the lower part of the 
map. In time, and with more numerous observations, we 
shall probably be able to briug order oat of this present 
confusion. 

Of other work completed or in progress in this part of the 
State, the following statement will not be here out of place. 

Mr. McCalley has been engaged for several years upon 
the examination of the coal of the Plateau region of the 
State, and of the valleys along which the older geological 
formations of the State are exposed. 

The greater part of this matter is already written up and 
ready for the printers, and all of it will be ready before the 



the end of the winter. The Plateau region includes all that 
part of the Coal Measures in which the coal seams lie high 
upon the mountains, and well above the general drainage of 
the country, and occupies parts or all of the following coun- 
ties: Madison, Jackson, DeKalb, Marshall, Morgan, Blount, 
Etowah. 

The valley region includes the Tennessee valley, the val- 
ley of Blount Springs and immediate valley of the Tennes- 
see river above Guntersville, Murphree's Valley, Wills' Val- 
ley, Jones' and Eoups' Valley, and Cahaba Valley, and the 
great valley of the Coosa, embracing all the region between 
Lookout Mountain and the Coosa Coal Field on the west, 
and the hills of Clay and Cleburne counties on the east. In 
these are exposed the older geological formations, and in 
them occur the beds of red and brown iron ore which have 
played so important a part in the industrial history of the 
State. In my biennial report to the present General Assem- 
bly I have spoken more specifically of the several reports 
now ready for the printers upon these districts. 

Some years ago, the United States Geological Survey un- 
dertook, in the interest of the State Survey as well as that 
of the United States, an investigation, the chief object of 
which was to make a carefully measured section of a belt 
about twenty miles wide, extending across the valley region 
of Alabama. After consultation, we selected a line running 
northwest and southeast, near the end of Lookout Mountain 
at Gadsden, as the central line of this section or belt. The 
investigation was to determine accurately within this nar- 
row belt, the thickness of the strata of the several forma- 
tions there occurring, together with the variations in the 
lithological characters of the rocks from place to place, and 
to determine the geological structure. This particular belt 
was selected for the reason that all the older geological 
formations of the State are exposed here, and the geological 
structure is about as complicated and diversified as it is 
anywhere else. 

The results of this work, which was finished this fall, are 
embodied in a report by Mr. C. W. Hayes of the U. S. Sur- 
vey, illustrated by a map and several geological sections. 
This report will be published as a document of the State 



8 

Survey, for which it wag specifically prepared, some time 
during the fall or winter. 

It gives me pleasure to acknowledge still further, the obli- 
gation of this Survey to Maj. J. W. Powell, the Director of 
the U. S. Geological Survey, for the very efficient aid which 
he has also given us in the investigation of the geology of 
the southern part of the State. Mr. L. C. Johnson, of the 
National Survey has spent several months during the past 
year in field work and in the preparation of a report upon 
some of the newer formations of Alabama. This report 
was much needed to make complete the account of the 
geology of the southern part of Alabama, begun by Mr* 
Johnson and myself jointly in 18S3. The publication of this 
report has been delayed for two reasons — 1st, that we might 
have a suitable map to illustrate it, and 2nd, that this sup- 
plementary work might be done. 

The report upon the useful and noxious plants of the 
State — the timber trees, grasses and other forage plants, 
weeds, &c., promised by Dr. Charles Mohr of Mobile, has 
not yet been prepared, because of the illness of the Doctor, 
but I am glad to be able to say that we shall probably get 
this most useful report some time during the coming year. 
Mo one in the country, north or south, is so well fitted for 
this task as is Dr. Mohr. 

Since the publication of the last report of the Survey, the 
following assistants have been employed upon the work of 
the Survey : Prof. Henry McCalley, in examination of the 
iron ore regions of the State ; Mr. Joseph Squire, upon the 
map and report on the Cahaba Coal Field ; Mr. A. M. Gib- 
son, upon the examination of Murphree's Valley, and upon 
parts of the Coosa Valley ; Mr. J. L. Beeson, upon the chem- 
ical analyses, which are to go with the Cahaba Coal Field 
report, and with the report on the iron ore region. 

It has been found necessary for Prof, McCalley, who has 
heretofore had charge of the chemical work of the Survey, 
to devote his time to field work, and the preparation of his 
reports thereon, and Mr. Beeson was employed to make the 
analyses during the past year, but arrangements have been 
made by which Dr. Wm. B. Phillips, Prof, of Chemistry 
and Metallurgy at the University of Alabama, will hereaf- 
ter be in charge of this work. 



In addition to these assistants who have been employed 
by the Survey, we have had aid from the U. S, Geological 
Survey, as already indicated above, in the work of Mr. C. W. 
Hayes and his assistants, who have spent several seasons in 
making the measured section spoken of, and in that of Mr. 
L. C. Johnson, who has devoted to our work about six 
months of the past year. 

Mr. T. H. Aldrich continues as a volunteer, his study of 
our Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils, and Mr. D. "W". Langdon 
has given about two weeks of his time to us recently. 

The topographic work of the U. S. Gdological Survey in 
our State is going on, and will, in the next three or fours 
years, have been extended over the entire area of the War- 
rior Coal Field, and we shall then have a good topographic 
map on the scale of about two miles to the inch, upon which 
to show the geology of this region. These topographic 
maps will make admirable base maps for the illustration of 
the detailed geological work which the Survey now proposes 
to undertake, and electrotype reproductions of the plates of 
these maps will be furnished to the State Survey at the cost 
of making the same. 

I have the honor to be. 

Yours most respectfully, 

EUGENE A. SMITH, 
State Geologist. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Fig. 



10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 

18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 



Section of the Mammoth Seam, Henryellen Basin. . 
Poole Seam, " 

Little Pittsb'gh Seam, " 



Helena or McGill" " 
Pump Seam, " ' 

Eureka Co.'s Slope Seam, Acton ' 
Acton Seam, " * 

AVadsworth Seam, Helena ' 



Buck Seam, 
Black Shale Seam 
Little Pittsb'gh Seam, 
Helena Se im. 



. 26 
. 29 
. 34 
. 35 
. 36 
. 36 
. 43 
. 43 
. 50 
. 51 
. 52 
. 53 
. 54 
. 57 
. 57 
. 58 
Wadsworth and Whetrock Seams, Cahaba 

Basin . . 66 

Wadsworth Seam, Eureka Basin 71 

Helena Seam, Dry Creek " 77 

Gould Seam, Gould Basin 81 

Helena Seam, LoUey Basin 86 

" ". " 86 

Moutevallo Seam " " 87" 

Black Fireclay Seam, Lolley Basin 88 

Monte vallo Seam, Montevallo " 93 

Helena Seam, Overturned Measures 98 

Shaft " " " 98 

Clark Seam, Dailey Creek Basin 107 

Gholson Seam, " " " 107 

(< (I (< u i( 107 

Thompson Seam, Blocton Basin 114 



V Plate 1 Lancashire method. Endless wire rope haulage, Plan and 

Section to face 120 

2 Method of working steep dipping seams, to face 122 

3 Diagram of Slope Tram and ground plan of Slope and room 

roads, to face 124 



12 

Plate 4 Section along the Slope and across the Room entrances, to 

face 126 

5 Section along the Room roads and across the Hoisting Slope 

to face 126 

6 Section N W and S E from the Warrior to the Coosa Coal 

Field, to face 162 

^ 7 View of Coal Seam with Cambrian Limestone overlying it, 

to face 169 

Map of Cahaba Coal Field and adjacent regions, in pocket of cover. 



PART I. 

KEPORT ON THE CAHABA COAL FIELD. 

— BY — 

JOSEPH SQUIRE. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Letter of Transmittal 1 

Chapter I. General Description of the Cahaba Field 3 

II. The Henryellen Basin 20 

ni. The Acton Basin 39 

IV. The Helena Basin 47 

V. The Cahaba Basin 61 

VI. The Eureka Basin 68 

VII. The Dry Creek Basin 74 

VIII. The Gould Basin 78 

IX. The Lolley Basin 83 

X. The Montevallo Basin 90 

XI. The Overturned Measures 95 

XII. The Daily Creek Basin 103 

XIII. The Blocton Basin Ill 

XIV. On Mining Methods 118 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 

Helena, Ala., July 30th, 1890. 
Dk. Eugene A. Smith, 

State Geologist. 

Sir — I have the honor to transmit herewith my report 
upon the Cahaba Coal Field of Alabama, with map, 

A few words respecting the development of the map. into 
its present form may not be out of place. The first begin- 
nings of the map were made by me in 1859 or 1860, while 
in the employ of the Alabama Coal Mining Company, when 
a fairly correct map of the Montevallo basin was made and 
the outcrop of the Montevallo seam traced by means of 
transit and chain. A few years later, under the auspices of 
the Montevallo Coal Mining Company, these surveys were 
extended beyond the Montevallo, into the Dailey Creek and 
Lolley basins. After this, in the years 1867-8, the surveys 
were still further extended and details worked out as a pri- 
vate enterprise at the joint expense of Dr. I. T. Tichenor 
and myself. 

In 1869-70 the central part of the field, including the 
Helena, Eureka, and part of the Lolley basins, was explored 
by me for Daniel Pratt and H. F. DeBardeleben. In 1874: 
for Mr. T. H. Aldrich my explorations were extended from 
the Montevallo over parts of the Dailey Creek and Lolley 
basins, and more recently over a good part of the Blocton 
and Dry Creek basins. 

In 1883, I undertook to make for the State survey, a re- 
port and map of the Cahaba field. During the period from 
1859 to 1883, we had as above described acquired some 
pretty accurate, though disconnected knowledge of different 
parts of the Cahaba field, especially of its lower part; since 
1883 our work has been to fill in the gaps and work out the 
details between these different parts of the field, to connect 
them together and to trace out from one end of the field to 
the other, the outcrops of the seams and to reveal the com- 
1 



2 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 

plicated structure of the field as a whole, and as the out- 
comej^of this work we have the map iu its present form. It 
will, however, not be amiss to say, that durinji; this period 
fiom 1883 to the present time, only about three years' work 
has been done at the expense of the State, the remaining 
time having been occupied in surveys and explorations in 
this field for individuals and companies, with the under- 
standing, however, that the results of these surveys should 
eventually be turned over to the State to be used in the 
preparation of this map and report. The two, who have in 
this way contributed most largely to this work, are Truman 
H. Aldrich and Henry F. DeBardeleben. It would be im- 
possible to overestimate the public spirit and liberality of 
men who thus freely present to the State for the benefit of 
all, tlie information acquired at great expense to them- 
selves. 

In the report, I have not gone into much detail iu the de- 
scription of the different parts of the field, for the reason 
that the map is constructed to show as nearly as possible, 
every thing that we know concerning the Cahaba field. 

Very respectfully, 

Joseph Squire. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CAHABA COAL FIELD. 

The Cababa Coal Field is part of the great belt or Car- 
boniferous measures that comraeDces near the south boun- 
dary line of the State of New York, and continuiufT south- 
westward, passes through the States of Pennsylvania, West 
Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee, and through 
the north half of Alabama. 

The Warrior Coal Field is to the northwest of it, and the 
Coosa Coal Field is to the east or southeast. Springville 
is near the northwest corner, Montevallo is near its south- 
east corner, and Scottsville is near its southwest corner. 

Along its northwest side and north end, it is bounded 
by the Sub-Carboniferous measures; these, and the Silurian 
and Cambrian beyond, separate it from the Warrior Coal 
Field. On its southeast side it is bounded by the great 
"fault" that separates it from the Cambrian measures ; 
these and their overlaying Silurian and Sub-Carboniferous 
measures, separate it from the Coosa Coal Field ; all along 
its south end it is bounded by a "fault" that separates it 
from a belt of Cambrian and Silurian measures that inter- 
vene between the Carboniferous and the "Drift" measures 
to the South. This fault is the continuation of that just 
mentioned. 

It is a common saying that the whole world is akin ; this 
saying will apply to our Coal Measures in Alabama. The 
main characteristic rock formations of the Cahaba Coal 
Measures are the same as those both of the Warrior and 
the Coosa Field. By first examining the rocks of the lower 
half of the Millstone Grit at Brock's Gap (this belongs to 
the Cahaba field), then examine the base of the Millstone 
Grit immediately South of Pkeid's Gap Station (this belongs 
to the Warrior field), then go out on the Columbus <fe West- 



4 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

ern (Central) to Thompson's Gap, or to Carr's Gap on the 
Georgia Pacific, both on Big Oak Mountain and near Leeds, 
(these last mentioned gaps being in the Coosa Millstone 
grit,) you will find them all similar. You will find the same 
rock at the top of Monte Sano, Huntsville, at the top of 
Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, and all along the base of 
the Coal Measures of Walden's Ridge and Sequatchee Val- 
ley, Tennessee ; you will also find the same rock at the 
base of all our Alabama Coal Measures wherever they are 
the country (or surface) rock. 

The underlying Sub-Carboniferous limestone is not very 
thick near Brock's Gap, becomes thicker going Northwards, 
as is evident at Blount Springs, where Col, Jackson opened 
his quarry, and to a greater degree still at Huntsville, where 
it is over 700 feet in thickness. It also shows a great thick- 
ness at Chattanooga. 

The Coal Measures of the Cahaba Coal field, like those 
of the Indian Territory, have only one thin ledge of lime- 
stone a few feet in thickness, in the whole of the measures ; 
in both places it is arenaceous and near the middle of the 
measures.* Ricliird P. Both well. Editor of the Engineer- 
ing and Mining Journal, New York, was the first to discover 
this ledge some twenty years ago. The almost entire ab- 
sence of limestone in our Coal Measures is one of the main 
points of difference between them and those of the North- 
ern and Western States. Another great peculiarity in our 
Alabama Coal Measures, in which they differ from anything 
seen by the writer in the United States, England, Scotland, 
Wales and the Continent of Europe, is that the great con- 
glomerate of our Coal Measures is at the top of the series. 

The five hundred feet of measures above the Montevallo 
seam are mostly conglomerates or pebbly sandstones (for 
description of which see chapter on Montevallo basin). 

I have no knowledge of any similar case except the Coal 
Measures near Sydney, Australia, where the top rock of 
their measures is an immense conglomerate, still larger 
than ours. 

The resemblances between our Coal Measures and those 

* A ledge of limestone similar to that described by Mr. Squire is 
found also in the Warrior Coal Field. E. A. S. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 5 

of other regions, are closest along the lines of latitude. 
The Coal Measures of Arkansas, for instance, and the In- 
dian Territory, resemble our measures much more than do 
those of the Northern and Northwestern States. The aggre- 
gate thickness of the Cahaba Coal Measures is 5,525 feet ; 
the Arkansas and Indian Territory Coal Measures have 
over 8,000 feet, while Illinois and Indiana have only about 
700 feet in thickness of measures. Another peculiarity in 
the Cahaba coal seams is the small amount of sulphur in 
them. While the miners of Illinois are dulling up half a 
dozen picks a day on flakes of sulphur, most of our miners 
in the Cahaba field do not hit a flake of sulphur oftener 
than once a month. In some of our Cahaba seams a miner 
could not collect a single pound of sulphur flakes in a 
month. The cause of this absence of pyrites or sulphur in 
our Cahaba seams can not be explained. 

The old idea that our coal seams have been formed from 
a tropical forest, composed mostly of a large growth of 
trees is entirely erroneous. An occurrence that happened 
over thirty years ago, eradicated those ideas, and convinced 
me that trees of large growth were the exception, and not 
the rule ; at that time it became part of my duty to test and 
examine a thin seam for a distance of forty (40) miles, and 
I found its maximum thickness six inches, with a minimum 
of two inches ; this fact and the associated fossils connected 
with it, convinced me that the vegetation more nearly re- 
sembled that of the peat bogs of our day, than anything 
now existing; in fact, convinced me that the order of forma- 
tion was from a peat bog to imbedded strata of lignite, and 
from lignite to the hard bituminous seams of coal now tak- 
ing our attention, the shrinkage or subsidence of the part 
of the earth on which they existed, allowing these peat 
bogs to become covered over with sandy or clayey sediment 
by the action of water, and a cessation of subsidence, or an 
elevation, causing the next bog or seam to form. The best 
evidence of the absence of large trees, (except a few scat- 
tered ones,) may be obtained by asking any intelligent old 
miner that has spent about a third of his time for the last 
twenty or thirty years underground, to state approximately 
the number of fossil trees with a diameter over six inches 



6 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

he has seen in the slates and rocks surrounding the coal 
seams he has mined in his life time experience. In ninety- 
nine cases out of one hundred he will be able to count them 
on his fingers ; and, when we consider that a coal miner 
(whether in the room or in the gangway), advances at least 
two feet per day on an average, or makes an advance of at 
least three miles in thirty years, with a width of, (using a 
medium between an eight foot gangway and a twenty-four 
foot room,) say sixteen feet; his experience should convince 
any one that the surrounding circumstances at the original 
formation of a coal seam, resembled those of a peat swamp, 
instead of a tropical growth of large trees, as the old ideas 
represented. The evidence is not positive that the climate 
was tropical at all, but rather that it was mild and of 
nearly uniform temperature. In evidence of this I will 
state that the fossil remains of the Calamites plant can be 
found in every ledge from the base of the Millstone Grit to 
the top of the Montevallo conglomerate, according to my 
own observation. Now, the living plants most nearly re- 
sembling the Calamite, are found in mild and even cool cli- 
mates. I am informed by men that have been to New Zea- 
land, that the flora of that country more nearly resembles 
our extinct Carboniferous flora tban any they have seen; 
and the fact is beyond dispute that New Zealand has the 
mildest climate in the known world ; in the Southern part 
they do not have sun and heat enough to grow our Indian 
corn. Therefore, following this course of reasoning, that 
like causes will produce similar efl'ects, we shall be com- 
pelled to obliterate our old ideas of a tropical climate with 
a forest growth of large trees. 

Any old coal miner bas seen millions of small fossil 
plants, but I have not met one who has seen a large number 
of fossil trees. 

The Cahaba Coal Field is drained solely by the Cahaba 
River and its tributaries. This river descends from its 
northeast end to the south end like a main drain, to which 
all the creeks and branches on both sides contribute their 
quota towards making it swell out to such proportions that 
on leaving the coal field it is large enough for navigation, 
were it "slackwatered" from the Alabama Hiver to the 
Coal Field. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 7 

Cotton boats are taken down it from the edge of the Coal 
field, or from Centreville every year. Joseph Lightsey 
scarcely ever fails taking some boats loaded with cotton 
down every year ; he never attempts it, however, except 
during high water. 

In the south half of the Coal field the principal tributa- 
ries on the west side are Schullz's Creek, Cafi'ey's Creek, 
and Shade's Creek ; on the east side of the south half of 
the Coal field there are Little Cahaba River, Savage Creek, 
Piney Woods Creek, Beaverdam Creek, and Buck Creek, at 
Helena. In the north half of the field, the first large trib- 
utary of the Cahaba River is the large stream named the 
East Fork of Cahaba River, or Mill Creek, which joins the 
river at Parker's Mill, at a point due southeast of Birming- 
ham ; then, farther northeast. Black Creek, after draiaing 
nearly the whole north ecd of the Coal Field, joins the 
river at a point three miles northeast of Henry Ellen. The 
Cahaba River itself, coming from the direction of Truss- 
ville, cuts through the Millstone Grit of Rocky Ridge and 
enters the Coal field near Hickman's Mill. The amount of 
coal ever boated down this river is very small ; none at all 
since the war between the States. George Gardner made 
an effort before the war, for a Montgomery company, to 
mine coal on Ugly Creek, and boat it down this river ; his 
boats mostly got wrecked on the shoals, and the enterprise 
was abandoned. 

Steamboats have been up this river at times to Centreville, 
the county seat of Bibb county, a town on the river a few 
miles south of the Coal Field. 

The United States Government made some improvements 
on the Cahaba River some years ago, with the object of 
making it navigable. There are some rock shoals between 
Centreville and the edge of the Coal Field, but below Cen- 
treville, I am informed, there are no shoals more serious 
than gravel shoals to the Alabama River. The distance 
from the Cahaba Coal Field to the Alabama River by the 
meanders of the stream is about a hundred miles. 

The principal mountain-forming rocks in the Cahaba 
Coal Field are the Millstone Grit formation and the Monte- 
vallo conglomerate. 



8 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

The highest and most prominent mountains and ridges 
in the Coal Field are the following : first towards the north- 
west is Shade's Mountain, formed of the lower measures of 
the Millstone grit, and following along the northwest boun- 
dary of the Coal Field from Canoe Creek in St. Clair county, 
to a point three miles west of Scottsville, in Bibb county. 
This ridge, like all the others in the field, changes its name 
with the locality : thus, in Bibb county it is known as Sand 
Mountain ; in the lower end of Shelby county it bears the 
name of Farrington Mountain ; it is called Shade's Moun- 
tain through most of Shelby and Jefferson, and Rocky 
Ridge in St. Clair county. 

The next ridge to the southeast of Shade's Mountain, and 
parallel with it almost the whole length of the Coal field 
and formed of the middle portion of the Millstone Grit, bears 
the name of House Mountain in the south end of Shelby 
county, of Pine Ridge in the north end of Shelby and 
south end of Jefferson county, and of Flat Ridge in the 
north end of Jefferson county, while all over St. Clair 
county it is called Blackjack Ridge. 

The next ridge to the southeast of the two just described, 
parallel with them, and formed of the upper ledges of the 
Millstone Grit, is known by the name of Red or Chestnut 
Ridge in Shelby and Jefferson counties, and by the name of 
Grassy Ridge in St. Clair county. 

The mountains formed by the Montevallo conglomerate 
are confined to the lower or south half of the Field ; the 
most prominent being Pea Ridge, which is a flat, wide ridge 
extending from Lacey Station on the Brierfield, Blocton 
and Birmingham Railroad to the fork of Big and Little 
Cahaba Rivers. This ridge owes its high altitude to the 
presence of the conglomerate and to the fact that the meas- 
ures are nearly flat. It is the broadest ridge in the field 
and divides the waters of the Big and Little Cahaba Rivers. 

The same conglomerate forms another ridge, a little lower 
in altitude, over the synclinal of the Dry Creek Basin. This 
is much less extended than Pea Ridge, but nearly as high 
as Pea Ridge in its central part. 

In the northern end of the Coal Field, in addition to the 
three prominent ridges of the Millstone Grit already de- 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 9 

scribed, viz : Rocky Ridge, Blackjack Rido;e, and Grassy 
Ridge, and lying to the southeast of the last named and 
parallel with it, is Owen's Mountain, formed of the sand- 
stones and slates overlying the Nunally seam. This moun- 
tain is not continuous through the field like the others, but 
in the northern part it is quite as high and prominent as 
the Millstone Grit ridges. 

Besides the mountains above mentioned, which are 
formed of the rocks of the Coal Measures of the Cahaba 
Field, there are a few others lying outside the limits of this 
field, which deserve mention here as affording prominent 
and important land-marks to guide the explorer in his ex- 
aminations of the Cahaba Field. 

There are two very prominent mountains to the south- 
east of the Cahaba Coal Field ; the first one is a high and 
continuous cherty ridge running within half or three-quar- 
ters of a mile of the Coal field, along its southeast side, 
with 'Possum Valley between it and the Coal field. This 
ridge, formed of the chert of the Silurian formation, bears 
the name of New Hope Mountain in Shelby County, Mill 
Ridge in Jefferson County, and in St. Clair County it is 
known by the name of Pine Ridge, changing to Anderson 
Mountain at the north end. Beyond this to the southeast 
is a higher mountain than any yet mentioned — the highest 
in sight of the Cahaba Coal Field. This mountain is known 
in Shelby and Jefferson Counties by the name of Big Oak 
Mountain ; in St. Clair County some of the settlers call it 
the Coosa Mountain ; about three miles above Carr's Gap, 
where the Georgia Pacific passes through it, this mountain 
acquires an altitude exceeding anything in the neighborhood 
of the Cahaba Coal Field. This high part of the mountain 
bears the name of " Bald Rock." Big Oak Mountain is 
formed of the Millstone Grit of the Coosa Coal Field. 

On the northwest side of the Cahaba Coal Field and on 
the opposite side of Shades Valley is the Red Mountain 
that contains the thick stratified vein of red fossilliferous 
iron ore, from which the Birmingham furnaces are mostly 
supplied. This mountain is a prominent land mark along 
the northwest side of this Coal Field nearly its whole 
length ; its distance from the top of Shades Mountain varies 



10 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

from a half a mile opposite Blocton to about five miles op- 
posite Bessemer, about three miles opposite Birmingham 
to about two miles opposite Gate City, Shades Valley 
spreading out between them all the way. 

Beyond Red Mountain to the northwest, on the opposite 
side of Jones' Valley, the Millstone Grit of the Warrior 
Coal Field forms a ridge at the southeast border of that 
field. Tbe above mentioned mountains and ridges are 
most of them shown on the accompanying map. 

There are but few good wagon roads in the Cahaba Coal 
Field ; some of them are county roads and have a number 
of hands apportioned to work them once or twice a year ; 
others are settlement roads, and are either worked by those 
living along them, by mutual agreement at times when 
they become extremely bad, or, as sometimes happens, they 
are neglected and not worked at all ; there are other roads 
that are never worked in any way, and when they become 
impassable by tbe falling of a tree or a washout in the 
road, they are simply turned to tbe right or left and the 
obstacle is tlms passed, by adopting a new road bed; many 
of this class of roads become just bridle paths. 

The following is a brief notice of some of tbe best of the 
wagon roads in this coal field. Beginning at tbe north end 
of it, we find the Brancbville and Springville road going by 
David Owen's place. This road is not much used. Father 
to the southwest is the Brancbville and Trussville road 
going by Hickman's Mill. To tbe southwest of this is the 
road from Moody's Cross Roads going by Rock Spring 
Church to Trussville. Still father southwest is tbe Rowan 
Road from Leeds to Birmingham ; this road keeps within 
a short distance of the Columbus and Western, and Geor- 
gia Pacific railroads a good part of tbe way, crossing the 
railroads at several places and going bv Gate City. Farther 
to the southwest is the road from Pledger's Mill to Gate 
City and Birmingham ; this crosses the Cahaba River at 
the Glass Ford. To the southwest of this is the Colum- 
biana and Birmingham road ; this crosses the Moutevallo 
and Ashville road in Cahaba Valley, at Rufus DeSbazo's 
place, passing by DeLoach and Company's Grist Mill, cross- 
ing the Cahaba River at the Dodd Ford. Father to the 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 11 

southwest is the Helena and Birmingham wagon road ; this 
one crosses the Cahaba River at the Bain Ford, and crosses 
Shade's Mountain two and a half miles above Oxmoor. 
The next road to the southwest is the Helena and Tusca- 
loosa wagon road ; this crosses the Cahaba River at the 
Lainey Ford going by Shade's Creek Church and Green- 
pond to Tuscaloosa. Still further to the southwest, and 
crossing a wider part of the Coal Field, is the Montevallo 
and Tuscaloosa wagon road ; this road goes by Boothtown, 
crosses the Cahaba River at Booth's Ferry or Booth's Ford, 
joining the Helena and Tuscaloosa road near Shades Creek 
Church, thence on to Greenpond and Tuscaloosa. To the 
southwest of this is the Aldrich, Blocton and "Woodstock 
wagon road, going by the D. Lenholm place ; this road is 
not much used, but crosses the Cahaba Coal Field at the 
widest part of it, the distance in an air line across the Coal 
Field from Aldrich to Thrasher's Mill beyond Blocton, is 
over fourteen miles. To the southwest of this is the Wood- 
stock and Centreville road, going by Randolph's Mill and 
River Bend. All of the above wagon roads cross the Cahaba 
Coal Field, some of them diagonally, others nearly direct 
across. The Cahaba Coal Field away from the mines, is 
sparsely settled, making road working a heavy burden on 
the inhabitants, one of whom, James Lindsey, has, himself, 
made and kept in order for many years, more than six miles 
of road, in order to keep up communication with neighbor- 
ing towns. The surface of the Cahaba Field is very broken 
and contains but a small percentage of level land, that 
being mostly river or creek bottom land. 

The Cahaba Coal Field has the following railroads within 
its boundaries ; in the north end of the field is the Colum- 
bus & Western Division of the Central of Georgia railroad ; 
this road runs from Birmingham to Opelika and Savannah. 

Near it, and alongside part of the way, is the Georgia 
Pacific railroad ; this road runs from Birmingham to Annis- 
ton and Atlanta. Both the above roads pass through Henry- 
ellen and Leeds. 

Passing through the middle portion of this coal field is 
the South and North Alabama Division of the Louisville 
and Nashville company's main line, from New Orleans to 



12 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Louisville and Cincinnati. Connected with this main line 
is the Birmingham Mineral Railroad, from Helena to Gur- 
nee. This Company have a right or lease to run on the 
railroad from Gurnee to Blocton. 

Farther to the southwest is the Brierfield, Blocton, and 
Birmingham railroad ; this road runs from a point about a 
mile southwest of Montevallo to Gurnee and Blocton, the 
main line continuing on from Gurnee to Bessemer, thence 
over the Alabama Great Southern to Birmingham. 

The Cahaba Coal Mining Company have a railroad from 
Woodstock to their various mines at Blocton ; the main 
line is about nine miles in length ; their branches to the 
different mines and side tracks increase their railroad mile- 
age to about eighteen or twenty miies. 

The Briarfield Coal and Iron Company have a branch 
railroad running from their coal mines at Peter's Mines, to 
the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad at 
Brierfield ; this road has a length of two or three miles. 

The Montevallo Coal and Transportation Company have 
a branch railroad running from Aldrich on the Brierfield, 
Blocton, and Birmingham Railroad to their slope on the 
Montevallo seam. 

The Eureka Company have a branch railroad of about two 
and a half miles in length from their slope in the Helena 
seam, to the Louisville and Nashville Company's main line 
at Helena. 

The DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company have a branch 
railroad from their No. 3 slope above Henryellen to the 
Columbus and Western Railroad. The above railroads are 
all completed and in running order, with the exception of 
the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company's branch and the 
Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham line from Gurnee to 
Bessemer; this is all let out under contract to Aldrich, 
Worthington and Company, and they are pushing the work 
forward with five hundred to ten hundred hands. 

The above railroads are but a small fraction of what prob- 
ably will be constructed in this Coal Field in the future ; it 
will require at least ten times their amount in mileage, to 
bring the Cahaba Coal Field up to its full working capacity. 

The Cahaba Coal Field is sixty-eight miles in length by 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 13 

an average width of five and eight- tenth miles, and contains 
a surface area of three hundred and ninety-four and a half 
(394.2) square miles. In my computation of the amount of 
good, workable coal in this coal field, I have included all 
workable seams of two feet and upwards in thickness, and 
have excluded all seams io the vertical Coal Measures of 
the boundary fault, and those of the interior fault, for they 
are not workable at present and probably never will be, in 
either fault. The extreme limit in depth of the lowest 
seams embraced in my computation, is 4,700 feet vertical. 
With the above named limitations, this coal field contains 
an aggregate of 3626 millions of tons of coal (tons of 2 000 
pounds), from which the loss or waste in mining will have 
to be deducted. For the amount of coal in each basin, see 
the chapters on each particular basin. 

There are eleven basins in this coal field, besides the 
"Overturned Measures " at the south end of the Field. 

The horizontal sections on the accompanying map illus- 
trate the structure of nearly all of these basins. At the 
north end of this Coal Field along the line shown on map 
from "A" to "B," is the Adkins Horizontal Section, giving 
the structure of the north end of the basin and relative 
positions of seams. The Henryellen Horizontal Section gives 
the structure of the basin and relative positions of seams 
along the line from "C" to "D." The Deshazo Horizontal 
Section gives the structure of the basin and relative position 
of the seams along the line on the accompanying map from 
" E " to " F." Below this is the Actoji Basin Horizontal Sec- 
tion along the line from "G" to "H," with relative position 
ol same. The Helena Horizontal Section along the line from 
"I" to "J," gives the structure of the Cahaba Basin and 
the Helena Basin, with relative position of seams in same. 
The Dry Creek Horizontal Section along the line on ac- 
companying map from "K" to "L," gives the structure of 
the Gould Basin, and the Dry Creek Basin, with relative 
position of seams in each one. 

The Blocton and Montevallo Horizontal Section, along the 
east and west line on accompanying map from " M " to 
" N," gives the structure of the Blocton Basin ; also that 
of the Dailey Creek Basin and that of the Montevallo Basin 
with the relative position of the seams in each basin. 



14 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Id the vertical sections represented on tbe accompauying 
map, the Henrt/ Hen Verlical Section shows the relative posi- 
tion of the seams and rocks in the Henryellen Basin. The 
South and North Alalmma Railroad Vertical Section shows 
the seams and rocks of the Cahaba Basin, the Helena Basin 
and the measures of the adjacent territory. The Dailey 
Creek Vertical Section shows the seams and rocks that out- 
crop in that basin between the interior fault and the Stine 
seam outcrop. The Blocton Vertical Section shows a sec- 
tion of the measures that have so far been explored. There 
are undoubtedly other seams in the part marked unexplored, 
that the drill or future explorations will bring to light. 
The General Vertical S ction shows the combined informa- 
tion gathered from all parts of this Coal field. 

The rocks or Coal Measures of the Cahaba Coal Field 
have an aggregate thickness of 5,525 feet. For the conven- 
ience of miners, exploring students, and others, I have 
classified these measures into four groups : 

(1.) The first or lowest group extends from the base of 
the Millstone Grit to the top of it, or in other words, to the 
top of the "shield rock" of Chestnut Ridge or Grassy 
Ridge, between the Gould outcrop and the Nunnally seam 
outcrop ; I have named this one the "3Iillstone Grit Group.''' 

(2.) The next group above the Millstone Grit Group, ex- 
tends from the top of the Millstone Grit to the top of the 
hundred feet of blue micaceous sandstone ; I have named 
this group the " Blicaceous Group\ (There are about 200 
feet in thickness of measures between the top of the hund- 
red feet of blue micaceous sandstone and the Wadsworth 
seam.) 

(3.) The group above this extends from the top of the 
hundred feet of blue micaceous sandstone to the Monte- 
vallo seam ; I have named this one the '^Productive Group." 

(4.) The fourth or topmost group extends from the 
Montevallo seam to the top of the measures, (about 50O 
feet) ; I have named this one the '^ Conglomerate Group." 

The rocks forming the dividing line between these groups 
are good landmarks all over this coal field, wherever they 
are exposed. 

These four groups are all tinted difi'erently on the accom- 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 15 

panying map ; the different groups are also shown in their 
respective colors or tints in the vertical and the horizontal 
sections on said map. The rocks of tke "Millstone Grit 
Group" are colored the darkest lint; the rocks of the "Mi- 
caceous Group" are colored a shade lighter than the lowest 
group ; the rocks of the "Productive Group" are colored a 
shade lighter than the Micaceous Group, and the " Con- 
glomerate Group" is colored the lightest of all. This 
arrangement, I hope, will enable any one to see at a glance, 
the class of measures that come to the surface in different 
parts of the field. 

The Cahaba Coal Field, like the Warrior and Coosa 
Fields, has a great "fault" along its south and southeast 
boundaries ; this is what miners term an "upthrow" fault. 
For convenience we have named this the "great boundary 
fault." Unlike the Warrior Field, this has also a similar 
fault extending down the middle of the field in its southern 
half; this we have named the "interior fault." At the 
soutbern boundary of the field, west of Montevallo, the 
measures show two fiults, the one corresponding to the 
boundary fault above mentioned, the other, a mile to a mile 
and a half north of it, following near the old Coffee and 
Freeman line, for some eight or nine miles. Between these 
two faults the Coal Measures, including six workable seams 
of coal, have been completely overturned, and left dipping at an 
angle of sixty degrees towards the southeast. In addition to 
these, there is a fault separating the Lolley from the Dry 
Creek Basin, which I have termed the Piney Woods fault,, 
from its position along a creek of that name ; and further 
north, the Beaver Dam fault, between the Dry Creek Basin 
and the Eureka Basin, named from Beaver Dam Creek 
which flows nearly along the line of the fault. Besides 
these faults there are undulations or waves in the measures 
producing the shallow synclinals with the almost level 
measures of the Montevallo, the Lolley, the Dry Creek, 
Dailey Creek, and Blocton Basins with their separating anti- 
clinals. 

Outside the flat and undulating measures just mentioned, 
and the vertical measures near the faults, the strata of the 
Cahaba Field show an almost u-niform southeast dip. 



16 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

All these displacements of the strata are such as would 
have resulted from the action of an immense force coming 
from the southeast, by which the strata were pushed up in- 
to folds or wrinkles, lapped over in many cases towards the 
northwest, and in other cases, fractured along the tops of 
the folds, and the beds on one side, the southeast, pushed 
or slipped up over those on the northwest, as is seen in the 
great faults named. This displacement in the great bound- 
ary fault amounts to ten thousand feet ; in the case of the 
interior fault from seven to fifteen hundred feet. Of course 
this difference in the altitude of the strata on the two sides 
of the faults does not nov/ exist, and possibly never did, for 
denuding forces have been active from the beginning plan- 
ing off the high places and reducing all to a common level, 
as may be seen for instance, at Helena, where the Cambrian 
and upper measures of the Cahaba Field, which in their 
original position are ten thousand feet or more apart, now 
rest side by side at the same level on the two sides of the 
great fault. 

The small faults or "hitches" in the measures along the 
northwest edge of the Blocton basin, also result from the 
action of the same forces, only these faults are much more 
limited in width and the amount of displacement much 
less. From the same causes also result the curving of the 
ends of the Eureka, the Helena, the Acton, and the Henry- 
ellen basins, the gentle undulations of the measures in the 
anticlinal and synclinals of the Montevallo, Blocton, Dry 
Creek, Dailey Creek, and Lolley Basins, as well as the gen- 
eral southeast dip of the measures of the field taken as a 
whole. 

Along these faults it is the rule to find the upturned 
measures on the north and northwest side of the fault, 
standing at a much steeper angle of inclination than do the 
older measures on the south and southeast sides, which 
have slidden upon and over them. This is seen all along 
the great boundary fault, where the upturned edges of the 
coal measures stand vertical, hence our name of "vertical 
measures" to designate them. West of Montevallo, as we 
have seen above, these measures have been pushed over 
even past the vertical, and. completely overturned, so that 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 17 

they dip back southeast at an angle of 60 degrees. In all 
these cases the Cambrian measures on the south and south- 
east side of the fault have a slope or dip to the southeast 
rarely greater than fifty or sixty degrees near the fault, and 
much less than that a short distance away from the fault. 
Along the interior fault, the same thing may be noticed, as 
for instance, along the line of the South and North Alabama 
Railroad near Helena, where the Wadswortb seam at the 
North "Y" has a dip to the southeast of 42 degrees, while 
immediately adjacent to this towards the northwest and just 
across the line of the fault the measures stand vertical, and 
beyond these vertical measures, which are here about a 
quarter of a mile wide, we come to the Wadsworth seam 
again, carried up by this upthrow to the much steeper 
dip of 50 or 60 degrees to the northwest. And even along 
the subordinate faults, such as the Piney Woods, we find the 
measures north of the fault dipping at an angle of 80 de- 
grees north, while those to the south of the same, dip only 
35 degrees to the south. 

This displacement of two miles vertical along the great 
boundary fault, and the complete overturn of a strip of 
country nine miles in length by over a mile in width west 
of Montevallo, bear witness to the tremendous force that 
has been brought to bear against the Cahaba Coal Field. 

The Cahaba Field is in the counties of St. Clair, Jefferson, 
Shelby, and Bibb ; the northeastern end being in St. Clair 
county, the southwestern end in Bibb, and the middle por- 
tion in Jefferson and Shelby. The county lines according 
to recent changes, are shown on the accompanying map. 

The rate of dip of the measures of the Cahaba Coal 
Field varies from flat or perfectly level up to sixty degrees 
from the horizontal. The wide part of the field contains 
the largest amount of flat measures. In the Lolley and 
Montevallo Basins you can travel for miles and find it very 
difficult to decide (judging by the eye) as to which way the 
measures are dipping. The Blocton Basin holds a large 
area of flat or level measures ; and the same is true of the 
Dry Creek Basin, and the north end of the Henryellen 
Basin. 

The measures on the southeast side of the interior fault 
2 



18 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

generally increase their rate of dip as they approach the 
fault. 

The first regular, systematic underground mining in this, 
coal field, was done at a mine opened in the Montevallo 
seam at a point about one mile northwest of the Montevallo 
Coal and Transportation Company's present slope, west of 
Montevallo about three miles ; this was about the year 
1856 ; it was commenced by private individuals, and then 
the Alabama Coal Mining Company was formed, composed 
of Johe M. Moore of Talladega, Judge Cooper of Lowndes 
county, Dr. Miller of Wilcox county, and others. (This 
was probably the first underground mining done in this 
State.) 

The demand for coal and iron made by the Confederate 
Government during the war, gave a new impetus to mining 
coal in this field, and, and new mines were opened near 
Helena, between Boothtown, and Gurnee, at Dailey Creeks 
and at the Montevallo Mines, and also to the southwest of 
Dailey Creek. 

Prior to the war, the demand for coal in the whole state 
was not over ten or eleven thousand tons per annum. For 
a number of years after the war closed, the demand for 
coal in Alabama was not much greater than the above. 
The demonstration had not then been made, that our coal 
was suitable for smelting iron. 

For a number of years after the close of the war, capi- 
talists refused to risk their money in the then doubtful en- 
terprise of building coke furnaces to decide the case as to 
whether our coals would smelt onr ores or not. 

The tendency then was to invest in efforts to make cotton 
with recently liberated slaves, which generally ended in 
disaster and loss. Matters remained in this condition after 
the war between the states ended, until the year 1870, when 
Henry F. DeBardeleben, with a boldness and enterprise 
that he has shown in many similar cases since then, launched 
a hundred thousand dollars into the rebuilding of the partly 
destroyed Red Mountain iron furnaces at Oxmoor, where it 
was eventually demonstrated that our coal would smelt 
our iron ores, a fact that we had long craved to see proved 
beyond dispute. He displayed still greater enterprise ia 



I 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GENEEAL DESCRIPTION. 19 

expendinf; between two and three hundred thousand dollars 
in the opening up of Pratt Mines and bringing cheap coal 
and coke into Birmingham. Prior to that, capitalists from 
all parts of the world had seen something of our mineral 
wealth, but hesitated to venture upon the experiment tO' 
ascertain whether the coals and iron ores of Alabama could 
be worked together in the farnace well enough to make it 
profitable. It was well known then to a few, that we had 
an abundance of good coal and iron ores, but that very 
essential demonstration to induce capital to come here to 
invest, we did not have. 

In the development of the Cahaba Coal Field, the greatest 
credit must be given to Truman H. Aldrich and Henry F. 
DeBardeleben. They have done more than any others to 
push on the developments and mining enterprises that now 
dot this coal field ; Cornelius Cadle and William F. Aldrich 
have also contributed largely to the mining development of 
the field. 

In locating some of the coal seam outcrops on the accom- 
panying map, after discovering the seam and being positive 
of its presence, I found it impossible to ascertain its true 
relative position to the nearest section lines, and distance 
to nearest section corners, on account of the settlers in the 
vicinity being unable to point them out ; leaving me no 
alternative but to approximate its position by the apparent 
distance to some mountain where the section corners were 
known to me, or to take the compass and chain and run 
the section lines off; in some of the most important cases, 
I ado^/ted the last way, and in others of lesser importance, 
in fact, in the majority of cases, adopted the first way and 
approximated their position. 

With regard to the continuance, or uniformity in thick- 
ness of the coal seams shown on the accompanying map, the 
future developments by further testing and mining will have 
to decide. I have given the thickness and location of all 
the seams of the Cahaba Coal Field as accurately as the 
knowledge obtained up to this date would enable me to do. 
The condition of a seam of coal, a single yard beyond its 
exposure, no one living has positive knowledge of, or can 
rightfully swear as to its size or its purity. 



CHAPTER 11, 



THE HENRYELLEN BASIN. 

The Henryellen basin occupies the north end of the Ca- 
haba Coal Field ; it is twenty-eight miles in length by an 
average width of four and a quarter miles, measuring from 
the base of the Millstone grit on the north-west side of 
Eocky Ridge to the great boundary fault in 'Possom Valley, 
on the south side of the Cahaba Coal Field. Its greatest 
length is measured from the southwest end of the basin at 
a point about a mile in a straight line south of the mouth 
of the east fork of the Cahaba river, where it joins the main 
stream, to the northeast boundary of the basin as well as 
of the Coal Field, at the Springville prong of Canoe creek. 

This basin contains an area of 119 square miles, and is 
drained solely by the waters of the Cahaba river and its 
tributaries ; chiefly of the east fork of Cahaba river and 
the numerous prongs of Black creek. The outcropping of 
the Millstone grit, having a rate of dip of about nine de- 
grees, and forming what is known in this region as Rocky 
Ridge, clearly outlines the northwestern and the north- 
eastern boundary of the basin, as well as the b-. undary of 
this portion of the Cahaba Coal Field. The great fault in 
'Possum Valley separating the Cambrian from the Carbon- 
iferous measures, forms its south-eastern boundary. South- 
east of said boundary fault, and running parallel with it, is 
a high, prominent cherty ridge of Silurian age, known near 
the southwest end of the basin as Mill Ridge, near the 
middle portion of the basin as Pine Ridge, and near the 
northeast end of the basin as Anderson Mountain. This 
prominent ridge can be seen from almost any part of the 
high ridges in the basin, guiding the eye to the location of 
the basin (also Coal Field) at its foot. The southwest boun- 
dary of the basin passes through sections 28, 34 and 35, 
township 18, rane^e 2, west, intersecting the Cahaba river at 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 21 

a point a little over a mile in a straight line below the 
mouth of the east fork of Cahaba river ; the wagon road 
from Caldwell's Mill to Watkin's Gap on Shades Mountain 
crosses the southwest boundary of the basin in section 26. 
A line commeacing at the Alice furnaces in Birmingham, 
and run to the southeast, would cut off to the northeast, 
that portion of the Cahaba Coald Field embraced by the 
Henryel]en basin ; said line would intersect the first coal 
seam at a distance from the Alice furnaces of four and a 
half miles ; continuing said line still further southeast, it 
would reach the southeast boundary of the Cahaba Coal 
Field (passing entirely over that portion of the field) at a 
distance of nine miles from the Alice furnaces. 

The boundary of the Henryellen basin may be described 
as follows : Starting from Birmingham with a due south- 
east course, the top of Red Mountain is reached at a dis- 
tance of one and a half miles ; Shades creek is crossed at 
three and a half miles, and the base of the Millstone Grit 
reached at four and a half miles, at a point two-thirds of 
the way up Shades Mountain on its northwest side, about 
three hundred yards from the top of the mountain. The 
course is thence northeast along Shades Mountain (the base 
of the Millstone grit following along the northwest side of 
the mountain), with Shades creek meandering along the 
Valley to the left at a distance of from half a mile to a mile 
from the crest of Shades Mountain. After continuing along 
the mountain for three or four miles the ruins of the old 
Irondale furnace may be seen about half or three quarters 
of a mile to the left ; and beyond, still following along the 
Millstone Grit, the cut is soon reached through which 
passes the Georgia Pacific and Columbus and Western 
railroads ; here the Brock seam may be seen exposed in the 
side of a ditch on the south side of the railroad. After 
passing this point. Shades Mountain acquires the name of 
Rocky Ridge, and is known as such by the settlers in its 
neighborhood all along to its end at the northeast corner of 
the Cahaba Coal Field, where it intersects the great south- 
east boundary fault and disappears. 

Leaving the railroad behind and continuing along the 
Rocky Ridge with the base of the Millstone Grit still close 



22 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF ALABAMA. 

to the left, in the valley, on the left the divide between the 
head waters of Shades creek and a prong of the Cahaba 
river is soon passed. Trussville may be seen to the left 
from a point on the mountain about a mile southwest of the 
gap where Cahaba river penetrates Rocky Ridge. Hick- 
man's Mill is on the river, a short distance up stream, and 
Revis's Grist Mill down stream from this gap. Oar boun- 
dary line continues along Rocky Ridge, following the same 
direction (the measures having a rate of dip to the south- 
east of about nine degrees), until arriving at a point one 
and a quarter miles south of Springville, where the Rocky 
Ridge with its accompanying Millstone Grit changes its 
direction and boars to the southeast, the Springville prong 
of Canoe creek following close along its foot at the north- 
east side. Opposite to Truss' Mill, on Canoe creek, it will 
be noticed that the Millstone Grit became vertical and the 
direction of the boundary of the basin and Coal Field 
changes and bears from this point due south, merging into 
the great southeastern boundary fault at a point about 
one and a half miles north of Odenville. The boundary oi 
the basin and Coal Field then continues along 'Possum Val- 
ley, passing close by the DeBardeleben Coal & Iron Com- 
pany's office and store at Henryellen, keeping along the 
valley north-west of the high cherty ridge known as Ander- 
son Mountain, Pine Ridge and Mill Ridge, for a distance of 
twenty-six miles, to what is known as Bragg's school-house 
or Methodist church. 

The southwest boundary of the basin extends from this 
point northwest across the Cadaba Coal Field, intersecting 
Cahaba river about a mile in a straight line above Caldwell's 
mill, thence continuing on to the Millstone grit on the north- 
west side of the basin at a point due southeast from Birm- 
ingham and about four or five miles distant. 

There are about six public and settlement roads crossing 
this basin, along which nearly all the rocks of our Cahaba 
Coal Measures can be examined, except the great 500 feet 
conglomerate that overlies the Montevallo seam ; though 
a part of this conglomerate can be seen on the Birmingham 
and Columbiana road near DeLoach & Company's grist 
mill. One of the roads leaves the Birmingham and Spring- 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 23 

ville road near the Glenn place, crosses the basin and leads 
to Branch ville in Cahaba Valley. Another road leaves 
Trussville, taking almost a due east course across the Coal 
Field, and also leads to Branchville. Another road leaves 
Trussville, crosses the Field and leads to Moody's cross- 
roads in Cahaba Valley. Another road leaves Gate City 
and Irondale, and crossing the Georgia Pacific and Colum- 
bus and Western railroads at places, leads to the Kowan 
place in Cahaba Valley; this is called the "Kowan Road." 
Another road leaves Gate Gity and Irondale and crosses 
the basin going by the Glass Ford on Cahaba river, and 
Pledger's Mill on East Cahaba river, to a point on the 
Cahaba Valley road about two miles north of Bridgeton. 
Another road leaves Birmiogham, crosses Shades Mountain 
at Watkin's Gap, crosses Cahaba river at the Dodd Ford, 
crosses the East fork- of Cahaba river just below DeLoach 
and Company's grist mill and leads to Columbiana, crossing 
Cahaba Valley southwest of Bridgeton about one mile ; 
this is called the Columbiana and Birmingham road. 

At least nine-tenths of the measures of the entire Cahaba 
Coal Field are crossed by, and partly exposed, along the 
above roads. The succession of these measures is as fol- 
lows : Approaching the basin from the northwest, you pass 
over the sub-carniferous rocks to the base of Shades Moun- 
tain or Pwocky Eidge ; ascending said mountain you first ar- 
rive at the base of the Millstone grit formation, about three 
hundred yards from the crest of the mountain. About 150 
yards above you pass over a seam of coal known as the 
Brock seam. This seam is thin and not workable in any 
part of the Cahaba Coal Field where I have yet seen it, 
though in the northern part of the Warrior Field, I have 
seen it of good siz3, holding even as much as four feet of 
workable coal of good quality. Above this comes a heavy 
layer of Millstone grit, which in places is a conglomerate of 
white sandstone with numerous white pebbles imbedded 
in it, and in other places, a heavy bedded coarse white 
sandstone. After descending Shades Mountain or Rocky 
Ridge, you will find heavy layers of gritty slate, in which 
is a thin seam of four or five inches of coal. Continuing on 
in the direction of the dip you will ascend another high 



24 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF ALABAMA. 

prominent ridge known in the south end of the basin as 
Pine Ridge, or Flat Ridge, and in the north end of the basioi 
as Black-jack Ridge ; this ridge is formed mostly of heavy 
beds of the white Millstone Grit Sandstone, overlying the 
gritty slates and forming a shield, protecting the slates from 
the action of denuding forces. This sandstone is composed 
of the same material as the white sandstone in Shades 
Mountain or Rocky Ridge. After passing over this and ar- 
riving at the foot of Flat Ridge or Black-jack Ridge on it,o« 
southeast side, you will cross the outcrop of a thic seam, 
generally of about six inches in thickness. You are now at 
the base of the immense gritty slate formation surrounding 
the Gould seam. Before arriving at the Gould seam you 
will notice a pink sandstone which is the bottom rock of 
the under-seam, ten feet below the Gould. Passing over the 
Gould seam you will find a yellow and pink sandstone, the 
roof of said seam, and overlying this an immense layer of 
gritty slate. Ascending the next prominent ridge, which in 
this basin is mostly designated as Grassy Ridge, (in other 
parts of the Coal Field it is known as Chestnut Ridge, Red 
Ridge, &c.,) yon now find the thick beds of gritty slate 
changing their color and texture to layers of sandstone, 
then gritty slate, and further up the ridge you find a twenty 
or thirty foot layer of bluish black slate. On attaining the 
summit of Grassy Ridge, you find the upper layers of the 
white Millstone Grit Sandstone; this forms the shield to 
Grassy Ridge against denuding action on the underlying 
slates. This upper layer is one of our most prominent 
landmarks in geological examinations in this part of the 
coal measures of Alabatna. Descending fhe gentle slope of 
Grassy Ridge to its foot on the southeastern side, you next 
pass over a number of beds of sandstone and gritty slates 
and arrive at the Nunnally seam, with a sandstone roof; 
this seam contains about two and a half feet of coal. 
Thence, in the direction of the dip, passing over various 
layers of sandstone, slaty sandstone and gritty slates, you 
arrive at the Harkness Double, or Poole seam. 

(For section of Poole seam, see below.) 

Continuing on in the same direction, you arrive at a 
large, hundred feet thick layer of blue sandstone, that is 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 25 

very micaceous ; this sandstone is a good land mark to 
guide in locating the measures of this part of the basin. 
Above this you find the 15-inch Rusty coal seam, and above 
it, should be found the Wadsworth.* 

Keeping your course along the direction of dip, in going 
over the next 900 feet of measures, you will pass over the 
outcrop of seven different seams, varying in thickness from 
six inches to four and a half feet. (See sections on map for 
details). You will then arrive at a very coarse, massive 
sandstone. This is the foot wall, or bottom rock, of the 
Mammoth seam. This coarse sandstone, in various parts 
of the Cahaba Coal Field, becomes a conglomerate ; visibly 
so at the Henryellen mines and at a point close to the Gur- 
nee mines in the southern portion of the Cahaba Field. 

The Mammoth seam, in the north end of this basin, has 
an aggregate thickness of over eleven feet of coal, and has 
the following section measured by myself: 

* I saw what I considered the Wadsworth seam in the northern part 
of the basin, but was not quite positive of its identity. Anyhow, this 
is the proper position for it, and I am convinced that future explora- 
tions will expose it, yet it is impossible to say what its thickness will 
be. Near Helena the Wadsworth is over three feet in thickness and 
makes a very good coke for the smelting iron. 



26 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



{Section of Mammoth seam as it shows at the test made on a prong of Black 
Creek, near the Rock Springs Church, in the north end of the Henry - 
ellen basin in section 26, township 16, S., range 1, E. Direction of 
strike, N. E. and S. W. Direction of dip, S. E. Rate of dip, 15°]. 



S////jCf S-^ o/s/c 






"^r^e^T ^ f/^<^t^es //a/?/3 Co/fL 



/oy/^c/Vss AL/rcX s/^/vly ^^flT^ 



S/^£:cjr 2, ///c//<r<? . Co/jjL 



^ 



L£!^==^ SLprE V) ^^/TY S/r//<fS/-o/f£ 



Southwest oE this test, a split takes place in the Mam- 
moth, dividiog it into two large seams or benches. At 
Henrjellen there are three slopes sunk on the lower or five 
foot seam, designated as No. 1 slope, No. 2 and new No. 3 ; 
the upper or six foot seam they have not begun to work 
jet. This split is very remarkable on accouLt of the very 
white sandstone intervening between the two seams in the 
neighborhood of Henryellen ; the thickness of the interven- 
ing measures, including the white sandstone in this vicinity, 
varies from three to thirty-five feet. To the southwest of 
Henryellen the intervening measures between the two 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 27 

benches increases in thickness to over one hundred feet in 
places, the sandstone being remarkably white, and very 
noticeable wherever it is seen. This split in the Mammoth 
continues on down, southwest to the south end of the Cahaba 
Coal Field, the intervening measures between the two 
benches varying in thickness from thirty-five feet in the 
Henryellen neighborhood, to one hundred and eleven feet 
at Helena, and to ten feet southwest of Gurnee. The Black- 
shale seam and Buck seam are the names given to the two 
benches of the Mammoth, near Helena ; the Gholson and 
Clark are the names applied to the same at Gurnee. 

Continuing on from the Mammoth along the direction of 
dip, and passing over three hundred feet in thickness of 
measures, you cross the outcrop of three thin seams, repre- 
sented at Helena by the Moyle seam, the Little Pittsburgh, 
and the Smith-shop seams, you then arrive at the Conglom- 
erate or Thompson seam, which is here five and a half feet 
in thickness, but impure and slaty and not workable. Con- 
tinuing along in the direction of the dip, passing over about 
one hundred and fifty feet of measures, you cross the out- 
crop of one thin seam, and then arrive at the Helena seam, 
divided into two layers here, as it is both in the Helena 
basin, the Dry Creek basin, and the Lolley basin. In the 
Henryellen basin the Helena seam is double, with four feet 
of sandstone intervening; the lower layer contains three 
feet of coal, and the upper layer contains three feet, nine 
inches of coal ; the upper layer is the one on which the 
Henryellen Company sunk their old No. 3 slope, the coal 
being of excellent quality. 

About sixty-five or seventy feet above the Helena seam is 
another seam, varying in thickness from two feet to six feet; 
above this seam there are about a hundred feet of sand- 
stone and slaty sandstone, between it and the vertical fault 
measures. I have made various measured sections across 
these vertical fault measures, and could recognize particular 
seams and rocks, but found them in such a crushed, dis- 
placed condition that I could never make the sections match 
the sections taken in the regular measures of this basin ; in 
the same efforts at the south edge of the Cahaba Coal 
F'ield, I met with similar results. When we consider the 



28 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. ^ 

great disturbance that would inevitably follow the upthrow 
of 10,000 feet, and the pushing of these measures up to the 
vertical, we can not reasonably expect all the seams to re- 
tain their relative position, so that they can all be identi- 
fied with same seams in the regular measures of the basin, 
and even if we could, the fact would have no economic value 
to the miner, working the seams adjacent, since these ver- 
tical seams cannot be profitably worked. 

At the south end of this basin, opposite DeLoach & 
Co.'s grist mill, a steep dip of forty degrees to southeast in 
the regular measures takes place, bringing additional Coal 
Measures to the surface and exposing the Monte vallo seam 
and the lower plates of the Montevallo Conglomerate, 
which can be seen on the road from Birmingham to Colum- 
biana. 

At Henryellen, the ledge of conglomerate over the Con- 
glomerate seam shows itself at a point north of the com- 
pany's store and office, behind the miners' dwellings. It 
does not show prominently, as it is thin ; the pebbles are 
not abundant, nor large, but they are there. In the Coosa 
Field southeast of that point, the same plate of conglomer- 
ate is reduced to a thickness of two feet. In the south end 
of the Cahaba Coal Field this plate of conglomerate makes 
but little better showing than it does in the Henryellen 
basin. Thin plates of conglomerate are scarcely ever uni- 
form in thickness. 

The seams on the east side of the basin, outcropping 
within two hundred yards of the vertical faulted coal meas- 
ures, are mostly irregular in thickness, evidently the result 
of the immense upthrow of the boundary fault. The even- 
ness and regularity in the strike and dip of the coal meas- 
ures of this basin are extraordinary ; I have not noticed any 
faulty derangement in the interior of the basin except a 
slight fault showing on section 7, township 18, range 1 
west, on Suck Branch and Eocky Branch, though the indi- 
cations were not serious enough for me to try and work it 
out. West of Suck Branch, in section 12, close to Henry 
B. Hanna's house, is an exposure of a seam of coal called 
in the neighborhood, the Poole seam, of which the following 
is a section : 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HRNRYELLEN BASIN. 



29 



[Poole seatn in. S. E. ^4 of N. W. ^, section 12, township 18, S., range 2, 
W. jyireclioH of strike, N. E. and S. W. Direction of dip, S. E. 
Rale of dip, 5'^\. 



1.:.—= ^ /-/////Z / l/r/\/r//^/7jr£0 s/f//ospi//£ 



/ fooy 2//^c/^£s /^fffio CO/JL 
// //^C^ES COflL 







The topography of the Henryellen basin very much re- 
sembles that of the portion of the Cahaba Coal Field, near 
Helena. 

The great Millstone Grit formation, here as well as there, 
forms three high prominent ridges ; Rocky Ridge the first 
one, contains the lowest of the measures, the second or 
middle one is the Flat Ridge or Black Jack Ridge, the third 
one is Grassy Ridge. These three are continuous (except 
where cut through by creeks and branches) all along the 
northwest side, and the northeast end of this basin. To 
the southeast of Grassy Ridge, and dividing the waters of 
Far Black Creek from Middle Black Creek, there is another 
high ridge that is designated by the settlers in its neighbor- 
hood as Owen's Mountain. This ridge follows parallel with 
Grassy Ridge all along the north end of the basin. 

Dividing the waters of Middle Black Creek from the 
waters of Near Black Creek is another ridge that has the 
name of Sandstone Ridge, given it by the settlers. These 
ridges form the principal features in the northwest half of 
the Henryellen basin. 

In the southeast half of the basin the ridges are generally 
low, the land mostly undulating ; the most prominent land 
mark to be seen from this part of the field being the high 
cherty ridge, just outside of the basin, and following par- 
allel with the boundary of the coal field on that side. 

Black Creek, with its numerous prongs, drains the north 



30 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

half of the basin and empties into the Cahaba River, near 
the Henry ellen Company's No. 3 slope. The southwest 
half of the basin is drained by the Cahaba River and its 
tributaries. In 1883 this basin did not have a single mine, 
opened in it on any of its seams. 

The DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company have three- 
slopes sunk on the lower bench of the Mammoth, and are 
now mining coal with the most approved machinery and 
appliances, under the skilful management of Mr. Samuel T. 
Brittle, with Mr. Hugh Howard as superintendent. Two 
railroads, (the Georgia Pacific and the Columbus and West- 
ern, or Central of Georgia), run through the basin to con- 
vey away the coal, and there is a fair prospect of another 
road very soon. The Macon and Birmingham Company, 
now building a railroad along 'Possum Valley from Gads- 
den to Montevallo, would develop by means of lateral 
roads all the southeast side of the Cahaba Coal Field, and 
would tap more available coal than any railroad in the 
State of the same length. The rocks of the vertical coal 
measures of the boundary fault have the same composition 
and general appearance that they possess in the interior of 
the basin. 

The measures of the Henryeilen basin, like all our Ala- 
bama Coal Measures, were evidently at one time approxi- 
mately level, the ferns and peat mosses of that time in the 
lakes and bogs of that day, were then forming the carbon- 
aceous matter for our present coal seams. The split in the 
Mammoth shows that after the first five feet or so of the 
coal had been formed there was a depression of the seam, 
100 feet deep, towards Helena, which became filled up with 
white sand and other materials from external sources ; 
after it had filled up to a level with the two ends, then the 
other portion of the Mammoth seam was formed on the 
top of it. 

The present inclined position of the formerly horizontal 
beds of the Henryeilen basin is due to the great fault or 
upthrow of 10,000 feet on the south-eastern boundary of 
the basin, and to the upthrow of Jones Valley, which gave 
its present dip to the Millstone Grit and other measures of 
the northwest side of the basin. Some men look at this 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 31 

matter as mere conjecture, but they are facts, as to the 
correctness of which there is no manner of doubt. 

The rocks on the southeast side of the basin have a 
steeper rate of dip than those on the northwest side ; this 
is in accordance with the general law applicable to the 
whole of the Appalachian region from Alabama to New 
York, which was formulated by the Messrs. Eogers long 
ago, as results of their surveys in Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania., and adjacent states. 

The method of working the coal seam in this basin hith- 
erto used, has been the method termed by miners, "working 
the seam on the run." For description of this and other 
methods see the last Chapter. 

The basin contains seat^s that are of good quality for 
domestic use ; others of good quality for coking and iron 
manufacturing purposes; and others for a first class steam 
coal, so that the three principal demands for coal can be 
supplied by this basin. The following is an analysis of the 
lower bench of the Mammoth seam, taken from a half 
bushel sample from the top to bottom of the seam from 
the Henryellen Company's slope No. 1, at Henryellen. 
Analysis by J. L. Beeson: 

Lotver Bench of Mammoth Seam, at Heiiryellen. 

Moisture 1.531 

Volatile matter 33.785 

Fixed carbon 59.196) ri-^i ^ ca cqa 

Ash 5.488) ^"^^^ 6^-684 

100.000 

Sulphur in coal 1.016 

Sulphur left in coke. .371 

Per cent, of sulphur in coke .574 

The following is an analysis of the upper bench of the 
Mammoth seam taken from a half bushel sample channelled 
out of the seam from top to bottom. This is all from the 
DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company's slope No. 1, at 
Henryellen. Analysis by J. L. Beeson: 



32 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Upper Bench of Mammoth Seam at HenryeUen. 

Moisture 1 .526 

Volatile matter 33.77^ 

Fixed carbon 53.572? p , ^ „. „q^ 

Ash 11.123f ^°^^ ^^-^^^ 

100.000 

Sulphur in coal 1.057 

Sulphur in coke .509 

Per cent, of sulphur in coice .787 

By referring to the map accompanying this report, the 
location of the three horizontal sections are shown by dot- 
ted lines across this basin; the Adkins section in the north 
end of basin from "A" to "B" ; the Henryellen section in 
the middle of the basin from "C" to "D"; the DeShazo sec- 
tion in the south end of the basin from "E" to "F". These 
all show the great disparity between the amount of coal 
measures in the fault vertical coal measures, and the 
measures of the interior of the basin, demonstrating that 
it is utterly impossible for the fault vertical coal measures 
to be a mere plication such as we find in the basins of the 
anthracite coal field in Pennsylvania. The accompanying 
map gives the form of the Henryellen basin as accurately 
as it could be made without taking the transit and chain 
and surveying the meanders of the boundary ; the seams 
are also located as accurately as could be done without 
making a special instrumental measurement and location 
of each outcrop. 

These methods are always used by mining companys in 
making tne special surveys of their property, preparatory 
to mining development, since the success of their enterprise 
depends largely on the accuracy of the survey and exami- 
nation ; in fact, capital can not be safely invested in our 
coal mining operations without first making these special 
surveys with all the aids that modern science can give for 
the purpose of acquiring a full knowledge of the location 
and condition of the minerals to be mined. In my exami- 
nation, on the other hand, the area was too extensive to 
allow me to accomplish all these details, and in view of the 
fact, that in some days of these examinations, a human face 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 33 

was not visible to me from the rising to the setting of the 
sun, when the only guide to my location was the forms of 
the creeks and branches, or my apparent distance from 
some distant mountain of known location, it will easily be 
understood that absolute accuracy of location of outcrops 
was impossible witliout costly instrumental surveys. Even 
in thickly settled regions it is often impossible to get a sec- 
tion corner pointed out, since even at best, only a small 
percentage of the inhabitants have any knowledge of these 
land marks, and where the ownerships have remained for 
a long time unchanged, these corners are frequently lost 
sight of entirely. For these reasons the section corners 
have not been often referred to. 

In the Henryellen vertical section on the map, the seams 
shown are those that I saw or dug to and found ; the three 
horizontal sections above mentioned on said map, showing 
the Coal measures at three different points, and stretching 
across the Henryellen basin, represent the seams of coal 
that I either actually saw, or identified by the characteris- 
tic rocks that are near to and associated with them. Some 
of them I dug to, without making a thorough test, to con- 
vince myself of their identity with the seams in the same 
relative position in other parts of the Cahaba Coal Field, 
and to note their peculiarities. I would then abandon the 
test without obtaining a full section of seam, in order to 
give more time to forming the general sections, and locating 
the seams, considering that this result would meet the de- 
mands of the people of Alabama better than a number of 
disconnected details. The extent of the work made it com- 
pulsory on me to shun details and economize time as well 
as expense, so as to obtain the most knowledge of the Ca- 
haba field with the least outlay. In many cases, however, 
I made very accurate locations of many of the seams shown 
on the accompanying map, by taking the transit and chain 
in the one hand, and pick and shovel in the other, and 
making the one locate what the other brought to light, 
thus giving me a base line on which to locate the others by 
reconnoitering and computation of their relative distances. 
This shunning of the details required an effort on my part, 
3 



34 



GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF ALABAMA. 



as my work in the past had been largely in making special 
accurate surveys preparatory to the opening of mines and 
the investment of capital ; so if the reader chooses to find 
fault about the accuracy of the geological examinations, I 
shall beg he will excuse me, not on the ground of inability, 
but on the ground of lack of time and means. 

The seams of this basin vary in size, condition and sur- 
roundings, but not more so than they do ordinarily in other 
coal fields. Some are larger here than they are in other 
parts of the Cahaba Coal Field, while others are smaller. 
I give below two measured sections of the Little Pittsburgh 
seam at different localities. 

[Little Pittsburgh seam, on Adhins Spring Branch, in section 26, town- 
ship 16, range 1 east]: 




/ fooy ^ //^C//£S CO/fL 
BojTO/^ SL/tje: 



1 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 35 

[Little Pittsburgh seam, in section 19, township 18, S., range 1, ivest]: 




SL/ij-y <s/r/^osTo^£: 



G/^EEj- c^piJT"!^ SL/jyE 



J f^oof 6 //^C/^£:s CO/lL 






z r^^T ^L/JTV sflf^Dsro/^£ 



2/^E£J- CO/fL 



/•//?£- CL/Pf 



At Henryellen, the old No. 3 slope was sunk on the upper 
bench of the Helena seam. I did not have the opportunity 
of seeing it, but Mr. Howard, the superintendent, gave me 
the following sections : 

Sandstone roof. 

3 feet 9 inches coal. The slope was in this bench. 

4 feet sandstone. 
3 feet coal. 
Fireclay. 

A measured section of the Helena seam in section 26, 
township 16, range 1 east, is as follows : 




36 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

[McGill or Helena seam,, in section 26, township 16, S., range 1, east]: 



W. T^f/^^y Lfl/^lf//iT^OSfl/iOSJQf^£\ 



coffL 

/O J/^C//eS BlO/S// SLflfE 



Near Helena is a seam that outcrops under the pump 
that supplies the coke ovens with water, and named in con- 
sequence the Pump Seam, and the following is a measured 
section of the same seam in section 26, township 16, range 
1 east, in the Henryellen basin: 

[Pump seam, {under Mammoth,) in section 36, township 10, S., range 1, 
east]: 



\/£/?/ coppse pipssiy/e spfJosj-o/^£ 



2. FEE J sLpTy s/fA/osro//£ 
2 fEEJ- ^/^fC/^ES COflL 

I fooj 6 if^cf^es sLffj-E 

/ fOOJ- 9///C//CS CO/fL 



The Henryellen basin contains an aggregate of good 
workable coal of 881,000,000 of tons of 2,000 pounds. My 
computation and estimates were made on the basis of in- 
cluding all coal of two feet in thickness and upwards, and 
all within forty-two hundred feet in vertical depth, but I 
have made no allowance for loss or waste in pillars or 
otherwise, in mining. 




^ 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HENRYELLEN BASIN. 37 

The surface area of the basin is one hundred and nine- 
teen square miles. The most valuable portion of the basin 
is on the southeast side ; a large amount of the northwest- 
ern portion, occupied by Shades' Mountain, or Eocky 
Kidge, and Black Jack Ridge, contains no seam but the 
Brock and another thin seam, and as yet I have never seen 
them of workable size in the Cahaba Coal Field, though 
the same seams in the northern portion of the Warrior 
Field and in Tennessee hold four feet and over of good 
coal. 

For a fuller description of the rocks of the Henryellen 
basin, see vertical section on accompanying map, also Chap- 
ter I, giving a general description of all the prominent 
ledges in the Cahaba Coal Field. For description of the 
territory surrounding the Henryellen basin see introductory 
chapter. 

The measures of this basin have a varying rate of dip. 
That portion of it occupied by the Millstone Grit shows a 
rate of dip generally of from nine to twelve degrees ; the 
measures in sections 6, 7, 8 and 18, in township 16, range 
2 east, are nearly flat or level ; also in sections 13 and 24, 
township 16, range 1 east, they are nearly flat; the strata of 
other parts of the basin have mostly a rate of dip varying 
from five degrees to twenty-seven without taking into ac- 
count the fault vertical coal measures of the southeast 
boundary. 

The Coal Measures of the Henryellen basin have a thick- 
ness of five thousand feet. In the southern portion of the 
basin the thickness is a little over that amount, or nearly 
one mile, counting from the base of the Millstone Grit up 
to the top of the highest strata of the Coal Measures in the 
basin. 

The following analysis of coke made from the coal of the 
Mammoth seam at DeBardeleben Coal & Iron Company's 
Mines, at Henryellen, was made by Alfred F. Brainerd, 
chemist, Birmingham : 



38 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Coke from a Car Load Lot. 

Moisture 0.300 

Volatile 3.360 

Fixed carbon 84.987 

Sulphur 0.723 

Ash 10.630 



100.000 



Analysis of the above Ash from the Mammoth Coke by Alfred 

F. Brainerd. 

Silica 5.000 

Alumina 3.500 

Oxide Iron 1.921 

Lime 0.004 

Magnesia 0.003 

Sulphur in Ash 0,0002 

10.4282 



CHAPTER III, 



THE ACTON BASIN. 



The Acton Basin at its northeast boundary joins the Hen- 
ryellen basin, and on its southwest boundary joins the 
Helena basin and the Cahaba basin. 

The principal wagon roads in this basin are the following : 
the road along 'Possum Valley (part of it is a settlement 
road), and the Birmingham road that leaves the Cahaba 
Valley road at Bishop's Mill and tlie Wilson place, crossing 
the Cahaba river at the Bain Ford, passing through the 
Mat Patton place, by Mrs. Bailey's house, where the meas- 
ures form a synclinal, and crossing Shades Mountain about 
two and half miles northeast of Oxmoor, thence on to Bir- 
mingham. Another road leaves the 'Possum Valley road at 
William Roy's place, crossing the Cahaba river at the Hub- 
bard Ford, thence on to the top of Shades Mountain, and 
passing down its northwest side to Oxmoor, thence on to 
Ely ton and Birmingham. Another wagon road leaves the 
Cahaba Valley road a half a mile above Isaac Johnson's 
house, going almost due north by Caldwell's mill and Wat- 
kin's Gap to Birmingham. 

The area of the Acton Basin is forty two square miles. 
It is drained by the Cahaba River and its tributaries ; Pat- 
ton's creek and its various prongs on the west side of basin, 
and by Acton's Mill Creek, Coal Branch and other short 
branches emptying into the Cahaba River on the southeast 
side of basin. 

This basin is not a simple synclinal ; but consists of two 
synclinals with an anticlinal between in its northern end 
(opposite Oxmoor) ; the result being a wideniog of the basin 
at this point, (see accompanying map). The boundary of 
this basin may be described as follows : Leaving the L. <fe 
N. railroad at Brock's Station (near Brock's Gap) and going 
due east about three quarters of a mile to the base of the 



40 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Millstone Grit, and following this, the course is first north 
by a few degrees east, along Shades Mountain, keeping 
Shades Creek and the L. and N. railroad in view on the left 
all along, passing the large peach orchard owned by Mr. 
Howell of Cincinnati, and leaving the John McClintock 
house to the right of the course. In the southeast of 
section 21, townshp 19, range 3 west, the course changes 
nearly due north along the base of the Millstone Grit, the 
Judge Morrow orchard and vineyard lying distance to the 
right ; this course is followed up to the Hale place. Here 
Shades Mountain changes direction ; and our course is 
thence northeast passing Oxmoor, with its furnaces on the 
left, in plain view at the foot of the mountain, a busy little 
iron manufacturing town. This northeast course continues 
along the Millstone Grit to the middle of section 20, town- 
ship 18, range two west ; here the rocks are found in irreg- 
ular position, the ridges more disturbed and broken, and 
the topography more out of its usual shape by reason of 
the change of dip between the Henryellen and Acton ba- 
sins. We go thence southeast along the boundary between 
this and the Henryellen basin through the middle of section 
28 ; thence through the middle of the north half of section 
34 ; thence through the middle of the south half of section 
35, all in township 18, range 2 west, crossing Cahaba River 
at the west side of section 35 ; thence to the Methodist 
church near Mr. Bragg's in 'Possum Valley at the great 
boundary fault that separates the Cambrian from the Car- 
boniferous. The high cherty ridge on the southwest side of 
'Possum Valley here acquires the name of New Hope 
Mountain. Here the course is changed to the southwest, 
keeping along the fault at the edge of the Coal Field, and 
along 'Possum Valley, passing close by the Dave Lowry 
house, about half a mile from the top of New Hope Moun- 
tain ; also close by Hens. Bailey's house, with Hale Bailey's 
a short distance to the left ; thence along the edge of the 
fault to half mile post on the north side of section 2, 
township 20, range 3 west ; thence northwest to Cahaba 
River, opposite mouth of the Bailey Branch, crossing the 
Cahaba River at this point; thence up the Bailey Bfanch 
in a northwest direction to the half mile post on the west 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : ACTON BASIN. 41 

side of section 28, township 19, range 3, west, the point of 
beginning. 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is the Shades 
Mountain on the northwest side of the basin. Shades 
Mountain, as already stated, is formed chiefly of the lower 
portion of the Millstone Grit formation. The northwest 
side of it can be plainly seen from the L. & N. railroad at 
almost any point from Brock's Gap in Shades Mountain, to 
Grace's Gap in Ked Mountain, the Millstone Grit forming 
high perpendicular cliffs near the top of the mountain on 
its northwest side, displaying the grandeur of nature's 
handiwork to the thousands travelling along the railroad 
in the valley. Shades Mountain on its southeast side forms 
a long gradual slope descending to the slaty valley between 
it and Pine Ridge, the slope being more gentle and gradual 
in the north end of the basin than it is in the southern 
portion. 

Pine Ridge is the next prominent ridge in importance 
and follows nearly parallel with Shades Mountain (on its 
southeast side), the distance from the top of one to the 
other varying from half a mile at the south end to a mile 
at the north end of the basin. The valley between the two 
is mostly gritty slate, the rocks forming the base of Pine 
Ridge being also gritty slates and slaty sandstones, the cap 
or shield of the ridge being a thick ledge of the Millstone 
Grit formation ; in a few places Pine Ridge becomes as high 
as Shades Mountain. 

The next ridge of importance is the Red Ridge ; this 
ridge is southeast of Pine Ridge and follows along nearly 
parallel with it, the Gould seam with its under and over- 
lying immense thickness of gritty slates, occupying the 
valley between the two ; the cap or shield of Red Ridge is 
the upper portion of the Millstone Grit formation ; these 
three ridges are continuous along the northwestern side of 
this basin. 

The next ridge in importance is a short distance outside 
of the southeast boundary of the basin, following along the 
southeast side of 'Possum Valley ; this is the high cherty 
ridge that is given the name (by the settlers along it) of 
New Hope Mountain. It intersects the South and North 



42 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Alabama Railroad about half-way between Helena and Pel- 
ham, the railroad going through a gap cut by Buck Creek 
in said mountain. 

Various smaller ridges are formed in that part of the 
basin known as the Acton settlement, but they are mostly 
not continuous like those just described, their general trend 
is along the strike of the seams and parallel with their out- 
crops. The Cahaba river also, in one part of this basin, in 
its general course, keeps along the strike of the seams, fol- 
lowing the outcrops and slates until it reaches within a half 
a mile of the southeast boundary of the Coal Field, a point 
in section 20, township 19, range 2 west. It then makes a 
turn away from the southeast boundary again. 

The location of the synclinal and anticlinal in the northern 
part of this basin can be best understood by referring to 
the accompanying map ; on the ground, both can be seen on 
the road from Bain's Ferry to Birmingham, close to Mrs. 
Thomas N. Bailey's house. The other synclinal next to the 
southeast edge of the basin can be seen along the same 
road at a point about a mile south of Bain's Ferry or Ford. 
On the accompanying map the Acton horizontal section 
from "C" to "H" will show the relative position, outcrops, 
and form of the synclinal and anticlinal of this basin. 

The Brock and the Gould seams having a very low rate 
of dip, become level in the anticlinal between the Mat 
Patton place and the Mrs. Bailey place, then descending 
into the main part of the basin, the ledges of conglomerate 
above the Conglomerate seam show on both sides of the 
basin along the wagon road between Bain's Ford and the 
Tom F. Bailey place at the edge of the Coal Field. 

There has been no mining for coal in this basin up to 
this date, except two or three test slopes to prove the 
seams ; but when the basin becomes opened up by railroads 
its coal seams will undoubtedly be developed. 

The Eureka Company's test slope seam, of which the fol- 
lowing is a section near the surface, (but I am told it be- 
comes thicker at some depth,) is a seam of good coal and 
can be worked profitably. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : ACTON BASIN. 



43 



[Eureka Company's slope seam in section IS, township 19, S., range 2, 
W.: rate of dip 21°\. 



3f££T^'^<^/^^^ COffL ofGooo <9<//iLirr' 




f^/jpo eojTo/^ sZ/77-r 



Some of the other seams are in good condition for work- 
ing ; the Conglomerate seam is larger and better in this 
basin than it is at Helena. The Acton seam is large but 
rather impure ; the following is a section of it : 

[Acton seam in section 18, townshtp 19, S., range :i, W\. 



2fE£f JO^//\/c/^£S Co/=fL /// 

/f^ooj COfiL ^ 0o/^y CO/JL 
S I /^c/-l es H/^/=!o Bo/^y co/jL 



On the wagon road from Caldwell' Grist Mill by Wat- 
kin's Gap to Birmingham, at a point about half a mile 
above Caldwell's Mill, can be seen the flat measures of the 
anticlinal part of the basin. To the south of said mill 
about three-qurrters of a mile, the measures have a rate of 
dip of twenty degrees. The change in the rate of dip can 
be seen more plainly along the wagon road from Bishop's 
Mill to Birmingham ; the measures becoming more steep as 
you approach the southeast boundary of the basin, in a 
similar way to the measures in the south end of the Henry- 




44 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

ellen basin. The Cambrian measures on the southeast side 
are the same as those surrounding the southeast side of the 
Henryellen basin. 

The Acton basin is due south from Birmingham ; a line 
from the Union depot, Birmingham, running due south, 
would cross the top of Red Mountain at a distance of two 
miles, and intersect the first seam of the basin (the Brock 
seam) at a distance of five miles ; said line continued due 
south would reach the southeast boundary of the Acton 
basin at W. Y. Jones' place in 'Possum Valley, at a distance 
from the Union depot of eleven and a half miles. This due 
south line would follow very close, almost parallel with the 
public road that leaves Cahaba Valley at Bishop's Mill, 
crossing Cahaba river at Bain's Ford and leads to Birming- 
ham. 

For relative positions of the seams of this basin, see the 
Acton Horizontal Section from "G" to "H," and the yS'ow^/i 
and North Railroad Vertical Sections, both on the accom- 
panying map. The prominent rocks exposed in this basin 
are very similar to those described in the Henryellen basin. 
Commencing at the Millstone Grit on the northwest side of 
Shades Mountain and ascending in the measures by going 
southeast, you will find an immense ledge of the Millstone 
Grit, forming all the upper part of the top of the mountain 
and all the southeast side of Shades Mountain. After 
passing over this, you will find a thick bed of gritty slate 
with a thin seam imbedded in it, occupying the valley be- 
tween Shades Mountain and Pine Ridge. The next ridge 
(or Pine Ridge) southeast of Shades Mountain has a heavy 
ledge of the white sandstone of the Millstone Grit forma- 
tion, for a cap rock or shield ; this also underlies the soil on 
the southeast side. Descending Pine Ridge on the south- 
east side you will arrive at the immense beds of gritty slate 
that underlies the Gould seam. After passing over the 
Gould seam you arrive at the large bed of gritty slate and 
slaty sandstone that overlies the Gould seam ; these gritty 
slates occupy almost the whole of the Gould Valley, except- 
ing a few thin ledges of pink and red sandstones. On the 
southeast side of this valley is Red or Chestnut Ridge ; this 
is capped with the upper layer of the white sandstone of 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : ACTON BASIN. 45 

the Millstone Grit formation. This cap or shield forms the 
rocks of the southeast slope of the Red Ridge, descending 
into the synclinal valley in the north part of the basin and 
ascending again in the anticlinal farther southeast. Arriv- 
ing at this point, it will be seen that the micaceous sand- 
stones and slates overlying the Millstone Grit begin to ap- 
pear, making the upper part of the Millstone Grit a good 
guide to assist in identifying the upper coal measures. 
After passing over various layers of sandstone, slaty sand- 
stone, and gritty slate with the Nunnally seam, the "Five 
Group," and the Harkness seam imbedded in them, we ar- 
rive at the large one hundred feet ledge of blue micaceous 
sandstone. This sandstone is very micaceous and is a great 
landmark in the identifying of the accompanying coal 
seams. Overlying this blue micaceous sandstone is the 
Martin seam, and about one hundred and fifty feet of lam- 
inated sandstone interlarded with thin layers of hard block 
sandstone, some of it breaking out in square blocks. Above 
this is the Whetrock seam and the overlying Wadsworth 
seam, and above and including the two just named is the 
whole productive group of seams up to the Helena seam. 

In the northeast corner of section 18, township 19, range 
2 west, I found some irregularities of the measures, with 
indications, however, that the fault was local, or not very 
extensive. I did not ascertain the extent of it, considering 
at the time that it did not merit a thorough investigation. 

The rate of dip of the rocks of this basin varies from 
30 Qj. 40 jjj ^]jQ north part of the basin on the Shades Moun- 
tain side, up to 85° on the southeast side of the basin adja- 
cent to the great boundary fault. 

In the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of sec- 
tion 8, township 19, range 2 west, near the Samuel Acton's 
house, the rate of dip was found to be 7°. 

On the Mad. Acton land in the southwest quarter of the 
northeast quarter of section 18, township 19, range 2 west, 

1 found the rate of dip to be 15°. 

In the southeast corner of section 18, township 19, range 

2 west, on the T. J. Winfield land, found the rate of dip to 
be 19°, On the Acton seam close by, the rate of dip was 
21° ; on the Mrs. Jane Acton land in section 20, township 



46 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

19, range 2 west, the rate of dip was 25° ; in the northwest 
quarter of the northwest quarter of section 36, township 19, 
range 2 west, on the J. S. Jones' land, the direction of dip 
is northwest, and the rate of dip 80°. This steep dip is 
evidently caused by the great upthrow of the boundary 
fault that is in close proximity at this point. The most 
level point of this basin is that occupied by the synclinal 
and anticlinal in the north portion of the basin. The Acton 
basin is eight and a half miles in length by nearly five 
miles in average width, and contains an area of forty-two 
square miles. The amount of good workable coal in it, in 
seams of two feet thickness and upwards, and less than 
three thousand six hundred feet in depth, is from careful 
computation 143,000,000 tons net, making no allowance for 
waste in mining, loss in pillars, etc.; but this represents the 
gross amount of coal in the ground. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE HELENA BASIN. 

The Helena Basin is situated west and north of the town 
of Helena, and is on both sides of the South and North 
Alabama Eailroad ; the greater part being on the north- 
east side of the said railroad. This basiu is bounded on 
its northwest side by the Interior fault and the Cahaba 
basin ; on its northeast end by the Acton basin ; on its 
southeast side by the great boundary fault and 'Possum 
Valley ; on its southwest end by the Eureka Basin. The 
length of this basin is three and one-fourth miles, by an 
average width of three-quarters of a mile. The following 
is a description of its boundary : Commencing on the 
South and North Alabama railroad, at a point fifty yards 
east of the Squire house, at Helena ; thence at a bearing of 
S. 10° W. about half a mile, to a point a little north of the 
Helena school building ; thence, at a bearing of N. 60° W., 
a distance of one mile, passing to the left of the Holsomback 
log house in the ridge depression on your way and arriving 
at a point two hundred yards northeast of the forks of the 
Tuscaloosa and Birmingham wagon roads, the one fork 
leading to Lacey's Ford and Birmingham, the other leading 
to the Lainey Ford and on to Tuscaloosa, both fords being 
on Cahaba River. You have now arrived at the interior 
fault, the vertical measures of which are here six hundred 
yards across. This fault forms the northwest side of the 
Helena Basin. Thence along the southeast edge of the 
fault at an average bearing N. 38° E., crossing the South 
and North railroad at the switch of the north "T" near 
Tacoa depot, passing through sections sixteen, nine, ten, 
three and two, all in township twenty, range three west, and 
continuing along the southeast edge of the fault, to the 
point where the interior fault joins the great boundary fault 
in section two ; thence at a bearing of about S. 30° W., 



48 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

along the great boundary fault, on the west side of 'Possum 
Valley, to the point of commencement on the South and 
North Alabama railroad at Helena. I have made a more 
thorough survey and examination of this basin than any 
other one in this coal field, using the Wye level, tne Abney 
level, the barometer, transit and chain, very liberally ; be- 
sides making an immense number of test pits with the pick 
and shovel. 

The wagon roads of this basin are the following: There 
is one at the north end of basin that passes over it for a 
short distance ; this leaves the Ashville and Helena public 
road at William Roy's house, crosses Cahaba River at the 
Hubbard Ford, thence on by Oxmoor to Birmingham. An- 
other road leaves the Helena and Ashville road opposite 
the colored Baptist church at Helena, goes on across the 
basin to the Cahaba Mines old slope, and to the McClendon 
and the Driscoll farms. Another road leaves the Helena 
and Lacey Ford road, and goes on to the Cahaba old slope. 
A trail or bridle path leaves the Maiden Roy house and 
goes on to the Cahaba old slope at the L. and N. company's 
bridges over Cahaba River. 

The South and North Division of the Louisville system 
crosses this basin northwest of Helena. 

The Gurnee and Blocton Branch of the Birmingham 
Mineral railroad also runs through a part of this basin and 
joins South and North near the Scott bridge, or bridge 71. 

The Eureka's railroad to their coke ovens and mines, 
also runs through about three-fourths mile of this basin, 
joining the South and North railroad near the Scott Bridge 
at north "Y" of Birmingham Mineral, or Tacoa depot. 
That portion of this basin situated in sections fifteen and 
sixteen, is so disturbed by cross faults hitches and distor- 
tion of the measures, that it would be very difl&cult to make 
a profitable investment in mining in that area, though two- 
thirds of the basin (that part beyond the cross-fault north 
of the South and North railroad) are very regular and can 
be worked profitably. After leaving the South and North 
railroad going northeast, and advancing along the strike 
about a quarter of a mile, you will find the measures dis- 
turbed by a cross fault. Passing this cross fault, and con- 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 49 

tinuing thence along the outcrop of the seams you will pro- 
ceed for nearly two miles on measures that have an un- 
broken regularity, but at the north end the outcrops curve 
around in a shape much like a fish hook, as shown on the 
accompanying map ; this portion of the basin lies very reg- 
ular and is well worth the attention of the capitalist and 
miner. The measures in the southwest end of this basin 
also curve around in the same fish hook form that they 
have at the northeast end, as shown by the outcrops of the 
Helena and conglomerate seams on the accompanying map. 
The outcrops at both ends of the basin were located by a 
special instrumental survey by myself. 

The causes resulting in the disturbances and irregularity 
in the measures of this basin are discussed in chapter I, 
giving the general description of the whole field. Most of 
the outcrops of the seams of this basin have been carefully 
surveyed, measurements made, staked off accurately on the 
surface, and afterwards carefully platted by scale on a map, 
of which that portion of the accompanying map describing 
this basin, is the reduced representation. 

The great reduction has to some small extent lessened 
the accuracy. The South and North Bailroad or Helena Ver- 
tical Section, Siud the Helena Horizontal Section "I" to "J," 
on the accompanying map, will show the relative position 
of the seams. By referring to the horizontal section, the 
Helena basin is shown on the right hand side and occupies 
that portion of the section between the boundary fault ver- 
tical coal measures and the interior fault vertical coal 
measures. The basin on the left hand side is the Cahaba 
basin, which will be described in the next chapter. The 
boundary fault on the southeast side of this basin, is an up- 
throw of ten thousand feet, while the interior fault near the 
South and North Alabama Railroad has an upthrow of only 
seven hundred feet, though in the southern part of the coal 
field this interior fault becomes an upthrow of fifteen hun- 
dred feet. The Helena or South and North vertical section 
gives the seams of both the Cahaba basin and the Helena 
basin. The coal measures of this basin can be seen most 
conveniently and to the best advantage, along and near to 
the South and North Alabama Railroad, between the north 
4 



50 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



"Y" of the Blocton Mineral Railroad at the Tacoa depot 
and the Squire house on the main line. 

Commencing at said north "Y" and going southeast 
along the railroad, your first steps will be on the fine 
grained sandstone uuderljiug the Whetrock seam ; you will 
next find the hard block sandstone thirty or forty feet 
underneath the Wadsworth ; this hard block sandstone is 
one of the most remarkable rocks for hardness in the whole 
of our coal measures; it is generally from two inches to six 
inches in thickness, breaks up into blocks of from two to 
seven or eight inches across, nearly square. This block 
sandstone has generally a very pale pea green, or very pale 
blue color. The first seam you pass over is the Whetrock 
seam, of about two feet in thickness, dipping to the south- 
east; all the measures along the Soutli and North Railroad 
in this basin have a direction of dip to the southeast. 
Leaving the Whetrock, and passing over forty-seven feet of 
measures, mostly sandstones, you reach the outcrop of the 
Wadsworth seam. My oldest pits exposing these two 
seams, are only a few yards from the South and North 
Railroad at the point between the north " Y" and the main 
line. A few years ago the seams could be seen from the 
railroad, but the wasli from the higher ground has covered 
them up. The following is a section of the Wadsworth 
seam taken at this point : 

f Wadsworth seam in N. E. ^4 of S. W. ^i in section 16, toivnship SO, S., 
range 3, W]. 

SANDSTONE 
2 FEET GRITTY SLATE. 

3 FEET I INCH COAL 

BOTTOM SLATE 
Northeast of this in this basin the Wadsworth has a split 





CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 51 

in it, as a test made by myself, of which the following sec- 
tion will show : 

[Wadsworth seam in N. E. }-i of S. E. % in section 0, township 20, S., 
range 3, W]. 

Zj^EET iO/J^C/^ES COflL 
S i^^cH^s co/lL 

Leaving the Wadsworth seam and going southeast, you 
pass over one hundred and twenty-five feet of measures, 
mostly coarse red sandstone and hard micaceous grey sand- 
stone; you then arrive at a thin seam of ten inches. Pass- 
ing over fifty-two feet more of measures, you reach another 
thin seam of twelve inches ; thence passing over one hun- 
dred and one feet of fossiliferous grey sandstone and mas- 
sive grey sandstone, you arrive at the Coke Oven seam, 
about one and one-half feet thick. This seam is exposed 
four or five hundred yards south of this point, in the rail- 
road cut west of the old coke ovens, originally built several 
years ago by the Eureka Company under Mr. Jas. Thomas' 
directions. The said old ovens are built on the roof of the 
Coke Oven seam. Passing over forty-four feet of measures 
you arrive at the Shute seam, outcropping immediately east 
of said old coke ovens ; then passing over three hundred 
and three feet of measures in the middle of which is a thin 
seam of about fourteen inches in thickness, you will arrive 
at the Pump seam. This seam outcrops underneath the 
steam pump at the wooden bridge or trestle over Buck 
Creek of the Helena and Blocton Railroad ; the outcrop for- 
merly exposed here at this point is now covered up. In 
this basin its thickness varies from one and a half to seven 
feet. The last three hundred and three feet of measures 
are mostly hard micaceous olive colored sandstone, or lam- 
inated yellow sandstone. Then continuing southeast, you 
pass over three hundred and twenty-seven feet of measures, 



52 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



the lower part being mostly slaty sandstone, laminated 
sandstone, and yellow sandstone, the upper part being a 
very massive grey or white sandstone which, in other parts 
of the field, becomes a conglomerate. You then arrive at 
the Buck seam, which at this point is four feet in thickness, 
of which the following is a section from actual tests in this 
basin : 

[Buck seam in N. E. % of N. E. yi of section 16, township 20, S., range 
3, W]. 



S/J/^Doyo/^£ 




3j=-£Efll ///c/Zr^ COflL 



BOTTO/^ SLfifE 



The outcrop of the Buck seam can be seen in the little 
knoll or point between the south " T " of the Helena and 
Blocton Branch of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad and 
main line near the wooden bridge. The Buck seam is a 
lower bench of the Mammoth seam, and the same as the 
seam they are now mining in the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 
slopes at the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company's mines 
at Henryellen. It is also the same as the Clark seam in 
the Lolley and Dailey Creek basins. The seam has been 
worked to a limited extent by the Eureka Company, by 
means of a tunnel from one of the gangways of their Black- 
shale slope. The Blackshale slope was south of the South 
and North Railroad, and in the irregular part of this 
basin, (a). 

Continuing southeast along the South and North Rail- 
road, and passing over thirty-five feet of laminated sand- 
stone, you arrive at three streaks of coal, (thin seams of a 
few inches each,) these thin layers of coal follow the meas- 

(a) I must here state that those conducting and superintending the 
Eureka Company's work, sank this slope contrary to the advice of the 
writer, and after their attention was called to the irregularity of that 
part of the basin. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 



53 



ures of the Mammoth split, (b,) from above Henryellen to 
Blocton, wherever the writer has seen these rock layers ex- 
posed. Then passing over an additional seventy-six feet of 
fine grained sandstone brings you to the Blackshale seam ; 
this seam is three to three and a half feet thick, on an aver- 
age, in this basin. This seam is the upper bench of the 
Mammoth seam, and is also the same seam as the Gholson 
seam now being worked by the Excelsior Coal Company at 
the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 slopes at Gurnee, on the Brier- 
field, Blocton and Birmingham Kailroad. The Blackshale 
and the Buck are the Helena equivalent of the Mammoth at 
Henryellen. The Blackshale is also the same as the Ghol- 
son in the Lolley basin and the Dailey Creek basin. From 
the South and North Railroad to the south end of the field 
this seam and the Buck occupy an almost continuous val- 
ley, along which the engineers have recently located the 
Helena and Blocton branch of the Birmingham Mineral 
Railroad, the Buck or Clark being generally near the bot- 
tom of, or on the northwest side of the valley, while the 
Blackshale or Gholson will generally be found on its south- 
east side, often some distance up the side of the hill. 
While the Blackshale is six feet at Henryellen and is five 
feet thick at the old Gholson mine, the average of it, in this 
basin, as has been proved by actual tests, is not over three 
and a half feet, yet it is a solid seam of good coal, free from 
any interlarded layers of slate, smut, or other injurious 
partings. The following is a measured section of the Black- 
shale, from a test pit near the South and North Railroad: 

[Blackshale seam, in N. E. %^ of N. E. % of section 16, township 20, S., 
range S, W\. 



_;■— ^Sp/^DSfO/y/E 




3 f££:r O/^c// Co/jL 



Bofjro/^f SLf77-£ 



(6) The word split here refers to the barren strata— sandstones, etc., 
which come in between and separate the two benches of the Mammoth 
seam. 



54 



GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF ALABAMA. 



The Blackshale seam outcrops a few yards northwest of 
the south "Y" switch of the Helena and Blocton branch of 
the Birmingham Mineral Railroad. The old Stevens and 
Norton slope on the Blackshale, can be seen a few yards 
northeast of said switch. Leaving the Blackshale seam and 
continuing southeast along the South and North Railroad, 
after passing over ninety-seven feet of measures mostly 
coarse micaceous sandstone, you arrive at a thin seam of 
about twelve inches, surrounded by rusty slate ; the test in 
this seam is close to railroad on south side. Continuing 
southeast and passing over one hundred and fifty-six feet of 
measures, mostly coarse hard grey and red sandstone, you 
arrive at a double seam, here named the Moyle seam, and 
varying in thickness from one to three feet, thence south- 
east, passing over thirty feet of laminated sandstone, brings 
you to the Little Pittsburgh seam. These two seams out- 
crop opposite the foundation of an old burnt building on 
the north side of the South and North Railroad, barely off 
the right of way ; they also outcrop at the south side of 
Buck Creek where the two old test drifts are seen near the 
edge of the creek. One of the drifts was made in the Moyle, 
the other in the Little Pittsburgh ; the wash from the hill 
has now nearly filled them up. The Little Pittsburgh is 
also a double seam. At this point, the coal of this seam is 
of remarkable good quality, but its thickness is too small to 
Justify working. The following is a section of the Little 
Pittsburgh seam taken from tests made close to this point : 

[LiWe Pittsburgh seam, in section 16, toivnship 20, S., range 3, W.: rate 
of dip 35°]'. 



/fooy e f/y/c/^ES Co/jL 

S f//c//£:s sL/rye: 

I fooy 2 f//o//e:s co/jL 



The Little Pittsburgh seam is generally rated as a two 
and a half foot seam, in this basin. Leaving this seam and 




CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 55 

continuing along the railroad southeastward, after passing 
over ninety-two feet of measures mostly hard grey sand- 
stone, you arrive at the Quarry seam. This is a thin seam 
of one and a half to two feet. Passing over thirty-five feet 
of additional measures, you will arrive at the Smithshop 
seam, this is another thin seam of one and one-half feet. 
The Smithshop seam outcrops in the small ravine or valley 
immediately southeast of the old quarry ; thence from the 
Smithshop seam southeast, passing over one hundred and 
seventy-three feet of sandstone, part of it coarse grained, 
part fine grained, with some massive and some laminated 
sandstone, you will arrive at the Thompson or Conglomer- 
ate seam. The average thickness in the Helena basin, of 
this seam is from three to five feet, though owing. to its 
close proximity to the great boundary fault, its thickness 
varies from two and a half or three feet, up to ten or twelve 
feet. When the seam is in good condition in this basin, it 
contains from three to five feet of good coal from bottom to 
top ; in places though it becomes interlarded with pockets 
or layers of what miners call " smut," a black, shiny, soft 
material that looks very much like coal, and is difficult to 
keep out of coal on account of its close resemblance, and its 
not being always at the top of the seam, as the smut that is 
connected with the Montevallo seam generally is. 

The principal defects of the Conglomerate seam in this 
basin are its roof, (which in places is very treacherous,) its 
liability to layers of smut, and its irregularity in thickness. 
Four or five attempts to work this seam in this basin have 
been made in the past, but in every case have ended in 
abandoning it, chiefly on the account of the roof and its ir- 
regular and defective condition. 

The springs in the outcrop of this seam near Buck Creek 
furnish three varieties of mineral water. On the south side 
of said creek are two strong chalybeate springs, and from 
its outcrop on the north side it furnishes a strong alum 
spring. These waters have been shipped away to some ex- 
tent, and several invalids have come here to Helena and 
stayed for the benefit to be derived from these waters. For 
some classes of bowel diseases they have been highly 
praised. The Conglomerate seam is the same as the 



56 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Thompson and tlie Underwood, but in the southern portion 
of the coal field it is much larger, and in better condition 
than it is in this basin, for description of which see the 
chapters on the Blocton basin and the Daily Creek basin. 
In the north end of this basin also, it is thicker and in bet- 
ter condition than it is on the South and North Alabama 
Railroad. 

Leaving the Conglomerate seam and continuing south- 
east, passing over eighty-four feet of measures, the first 
twenty feet of which are mostly coarse sandstones, the next 
fifty feet being a dense conglomerate, some of the pebbles 
being large enough to make it a puddingstone, and the re- 
maining fourteen feet a hard, coarse sandstone, you come to 
a thin seam of fifteen inches. This thin seam outcrops in 
the valley between the Conglomerate ridge and the Helena 
seam, and the ledge of conglomerate, or the ridge it forms, 
is an excellent guide and characteristic rock in the identi- 
fying and locating of all the other seams in this basin. 

The first settlers in this neighborhood gave the ridge the 
name of Gold Ridge. It may be possible that they pre- 
sumed that there was gold in it, on account of its contain- 
ing some quartz pebbles. It is much the highest and most 
prominent ridge in the basin, and is easily known by the 
large number of quartz pebbles scattered over it. Leaving 
the aforesaid fifteen inch seam, and continuing southeast- 
ward, you will pass over fifty-two feet of measures, mostly 
yellow sandstone. This brings you to the Helena seam. 
That portion of the sandstone immediately under the 
Helena seam, is fossiliferous, and part of it laminated. The 
outcrop of the Helena seam is under the railroad trestle 
between bridge 72 and the Conglomerate ridge. The aver- 
age thickness in this basin is four to five feet, but in the 
neighborhood of the South and North Railroad and Buck 
Creek, a test drift one hundred feet in length close to the 
creek, demonstrates that its average thickness at this point 
is not over six inches for the whole length of the drift. The 
great boundary fault being only about one hundred yards 
southeast of said drift, sufficiently accounts for the irregu- 
larity of the seam at this point. While this seam in the 
Eureka basin, immediately south of this, has a solid four to 



I 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 



57 




four and a half feet of coal without any slates interlarded, 
in this basin it is usually divided up into two or three 
layers, as the following measured sections of this seam taken 
from test pits will show : 

[Helena seam in S. E. % of N. E. I4, section 10, township 20, S., range 
3, W]. 

2f£E7- 6 IJslcj^ES COflL 

1 fooT 6jfJc/^£s CO PL 
6>//Vc/-/es slpt^ 

2 J=-EET COfJL 

[Helena seam in S. W. % of S. W. }£, in section 2, township 20, S., range 
3, W.: rate of dip 30""]. 

S PN DSTO N e: 
G-RITTY SLRTEi 



^ Feet 3 Jnches CO/fL 

3 Inches SL/7TJE: 

1 Foot S Inches CO R L 

1 Foot SLFfTE 

2 Feet COfl L 
Bottom SLfJTE or 

f^/RE-CLffy 




58 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

[Helena seam in N. W. }.i of S. W. }i, in section 3, township 20, S., 
range 3, W. : rate of dip 46°]. 



R5f-EEf /I if^cHES COftL 
6 //Vc//es SL/fT^ 
BojTorn sLfTfE: 

The coal of the Helena seam ranks very high as a domes- 
tic coal, and it is used at present by the Eureka Company 
for their coke ovens near Helena and their smelting fur- 
naces near Oxmoor, ten miles North of this basin, the large 
lumps being sold mostly for domestic purposes. The di- 
vided condition of the Helena seam is again seen about six 
miles south of this point in the Dry Creek basin and the 
Lolley basin ; for description of which, see chapters on 
those basins. From the Helena seam going southeastwards, 
you pass over ninety-four feet of measures, mostly coarse 
grey and yellow sandstone and slaty sandstone, forming the 
high cliff on the south side of the creek opposite the rail- 
road trestle. This brings you to a thin seam of eight inches 
that outcrops at the pier at southeast end of bridge 72, also 
in the lane opposite the spring house on the Squire place. 
This is the uppermost seam outcropping in this basin. Con- 
tinuing southeastwards, passing over a hundred feet of 
coarse red and yellow sandstone, containing a large number 
of calamites imbedded in the sandstone in a vertical position 
as they stood when growing, you will arrive at the great 
boundary fault separating the Cambrian from the Carbon- 
iferous measures, in the grove of willows at the double rail- 
road culvert about three hundred yards north, 73^ west, 
from the Helena depot; the culvert carrying the drainage in 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : HELENA BASIN. 59 

the valley south of it to Buck Creek. At this point the 
fault vertical coal measures are only a few feet across, but 
north of this at the southeast end of the horizontal section 
across this basin from "1" to "J," the fault vertical coal 
measures are more extensive. The direction or strike of 
the seams and rocks in this basin, along the South and 
North Alabama Railroad, is about northeast and south- 
west. The direction of dip about southeast. 

The rate of dip varies, and is as follows : In this basin 
along the South and North Railroad, at tbe Wadsworth 
seam, close to railroad, the dip is 42° ; at the Pump seam 
the rate of dip is 40° ; at the Blackshale seam, close to rail- 
road, the rate of dip is 38° ; at the Smithshop seam on rail- 
road, the rate of dip is 32° ; at the Conglomerate seam the 
rate of dip is 29^, and at the Helena S3am the rate of dip is 
28°. 

The basin is drained by the tributaries of the Cahaba 
river, Buck Creek making a deep cut through the basin at 
the south end. The surface area of the Helena basin is two 
and a half square miles, and its seams, counting all work- 
able coal over two feet in thickness, and to a depth of 2,900 
feet, contain 45,000,000 tons (of 2,000 pounds) of coal, mak- 
ing no allowance for waste in mine pillars, or loss in min- 
ing. In the foregoing computation I have included the 
south end of the basin on both sides of the South and 
North Railroad, though since the recent opening up of the 
new railroads Helena & Blocton, the Brierfield, Blocton & 
Birmingham, and the Gurnee & Bessemer, and the Anniston, 
Syllacauga & Shelby, the said south end has become of 
more value for manufacturing sites than for mining pur- 
poses. 

The following analysis of the coal from the Blackshale 
seam, near Helena, was made by Dr. Otto Wuth, of Pitts- 
burg, from a barrel full of coal from a channelled section of 
the seam : 

Water 21 

Bitumen 33 . 29 

Fixed carbon 64 10 

Ash 2.34 

Sulphur 0.07 



60 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

The following analysis of the coal from the Wadsworth 
seam, near Helena, was made by Dr. Otto Wuth, of Pitts- 
burg, Pa., from a barrel full of coal from a channelled sec- 
tion of the seam : 

Water 42 

Bitumen 31 . 97 

Fixed carbon 63.99 

Ash 3.09 

Sulphur 0.53 



CHAPTER V. 



THE CAHABA BASIN. 

The Cahaba basin is situated west and northwest of the 
Helena basin, the interior fault vertical coal measures sep- 
arate the two. 

It is bounded on the southeast side by the interior fault, 
on the southwest end by the Gould basin, on the northwest 
side by the sub-carboniferous measures of Shades Valley, 
and on the northeast end by the Acton basin. The bound- 
ary of the basin is as follows : Commencing on the South 
and North Alabama Railroad, about forty yards south of 
bridge 70, or Carr bridge, thence southwest along the edge 
of the fault measures, leaving the Holt house to your right, 
continuing southwest along the edge of the interior fault, 
passing close by the northwest corner of section 16, through 
the middle of section 17 to the middle of the southwest 
quarter of section 17, thence northwest, crossing Cahaba 
river and following up Lainey branch to its head, near the 
northwest corner of section 7, thence over Shades moun- 
tain to the base of the Millstone Grit, thence northeast 
along the base of Millstone Grit through section 6, crossing 
the South and North Alabama Railroad at Brock's Gap, 
near the middle of section 32, continuing on northeast to 
that part of section 28 opposite the head of Bailey's branch, 
thence southeast down Bailey's branch, crossing the 
Cahaba river in the south end of section 34, to the vertical 
coal measures of the interior fault, thence southwest along 
the northwest edge of the interior fault to the point of be- 
ginning on the South and North Alabama Railroad, near 
the Holt house. 

The principal wagon road of this basin is the one formerly 
called the Montevallo and Elyton road, where, thirty-five 
years ago, Jemison and Powell used to run their stage 
coaches, but like the coaches, the road is now very much 



62 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

neglected and out of common use. Said wa,^on road crosses 
the Cahaba river at the Lacey Ford, passing under the high 
railroad trestle in section 5, crossing Shades mountain at 
Brock's Gap, thence on by Oxmoor to Elyton and Birming- 
ham. On the top of Shades mouutain, two other roads 
branch from this, one going southwest on the top of the 
mountain towards Gurnee and Blocton, the other one takes 
a northeast course on the top of Shades moiintain and leads 
to the Morrow orchard, Howell orchard, the Earnest vine- 
yard and the Hale place. Both these last mentioned roads 
follow along close to the edge of the basin, the roads being 
but a short distance above the base of the Millstone Grit. 

The length of this basin is about three and a half miles 
from the southwest end to the northeast end, by an average 
width of two miles, and it contains an area of seven square 
miles. The amount of good, workable coal in it, in seams' 
over two feet in thickness, amounts to 23,000,000 tons (of 
2,000 pounds), at a depth of not over 2,200 feet ; in this 
computation there is no allowance for loss in pillars or 
waste in mining ; about three-fourths of the above 23,000,- 
000 tons are very good coking coals, furnished by the Gould, 
and Cahaba or Wadsworth seams. 

The Cahaba basin is drained by the Cahaba river and its 
tributaries. Buck creek, Bailey's branch, Black creek, Mar- 
tin's branch, Lainey branch and others. 

The prominent ridges of this basin are Shades mountain 
on its northwest side, then Pine ridge, near and parallel to 
the last mentioned, and Red or Chestnut ridge, near and 
parallel to the other two. The South and North Alabama 
Railroad Vertical Section, and the Helena Horizontal Section 
on the accompanying map, give the relative positions of the 
seams of this basin ; also the form of the basin and its rela- 
tions to the interior fault and the Helena basin. The hori- 
zontal section, showing both basins, is taken along the line 
shown on map from "I" to "J," said line crossing the South 
and North Alabama Bailroad very near the slope of the 
South Birmingham Coal and Iron Company, at Sydenton. 

The rocks of this basin can be seen to the best advantage 
along the South and North Alabama Railroad. Commenc- 
ing at the northwest end of the Brock's Gap cut, the lower 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : CAHABA BASIN. 63 

part of the Millstone Grit formation can be seen beneath 
tbe Brock seam ; it has a light bluish tinge The Brock 
seam is about one and a half feet thick, the coal being of 
inferior quality at this point ; after passing over forty feet 
of measures, the Millstone Grit being here of a faint bluish 
tinge, you come to the seven inch seam ; passing over this 
you will then arrive at the lower part of the two hundred 
feet of Millstone Grit, you will perceive it here loses its 
bluish tinge and becomes of a white or grey color, though 
weathering white ; the white pebbled conglomerate is im- 
bedded in this heavy ledge, and though the pebbles in 
places may not be visible for some distance, they always 
re-appear again. In general, these pebbles are easily 
noticed in the Millstone Grit of nearly all our Alabama 
coal measures. This heavy layer of Millstone Grit forms 
the shield of Shades mountain, which is the highest in the 
basin. Crossing over the mountain, in the valley between 
it and Pine Ridge, you pass over a hundred feet of gritty 
slate, which you will distinguish from the slate around the 
Gould, by its containing a greater abundance of rusty part- 
ing and bedding planes than the Gould slate does ; this 
slate is of a dirty greenish color. Above this slate is a 
bluish laminated sandstone . You next arrive at the Mill- 
stone Grit of Pine ridge, which can be seen in the railroad 
cut, locally named the "Teague Cut" in this part of Pine 
ridge ; passing through this you come in sight of the high 
trestle that stands over the outcrop of the Gould seam and 
its surrounding slates ; you will notice that the gritty slates 
around the Gould seam are lighter in color than those be- 
tween Shades mountain and Pine ridge; over the Gould 
seam is a ledge of yellow and pink sandstone which will 
help you to locate tbe seam in almost any part of the 
Cahaba Coal Field, and over this sandstone is another im- 
mense bed of gritty slate. Between said tritty. slate and 
the Millstone Grit of Chestnut ridge, is a ledge of about 
twenty feet of blue-black slate, quite dififerent from the blue 
laminated sandstoae under the Millstona Grit of Pine ridge. 
This slate is another guide in identifying and locating the 
Gould seam. Overlying the blue-black slate is the Mill- 
stone Grit of Chestnut ridge ; this is the upper layer of 



m 



64 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Millstone Grit, and one of its peculiar features is its assum- 
ing a more red or pinkish tinge than the layers of Shades 
mountain and Pine ridge ; it has the same peculiarity in the 
Warrior Field, which can be noticed along the South and 
North Alabama Railroad, south of Reid's Gap. Above the 
Millstone Grit of Chestnut ridge, and both above and below 
the Nunnally seam, most of the sandstones have a pinkish 
tinge at their outcrops ; this is a characteristic of this part 
of the measures. After passing over two hundred feet of 
measures above the Harkness seam, you will arrive at the 
lower edges of another great landmark and characteristic 
rock, the one hundred foot ledge of the blue micaceous 
sandstone ; a close examination of this ledge will aid you in 
any investigation of the same series of measures in other 
parts of the Cahaba Coal Field, (also in Warrior and Coosa 
Coal Fields.) Passing over this hundred foot ledge, you 
will find that the sandstones above it are more micaceous 
than they are below it ; these overlying sandstones acquire 
a new feature which attaches to most of the ledges immedi- 
ately below and above the Wadsworth seam — that is, their 
becoming concretionary, and resembling, when broken the 
layers or skins of a halved onion ; but the great guide to the 
identification of the seams in this part of the coal measures, 
is the large ledge just mentioned of blue micaceous sand- 
stone. The guide to the identification of the Wadsworth 
seam is the two to six inch ledge of pale blue or green 
block sandstone, which underlies the Wadsworth at a varying 
distance of from forty to ninety feet. Leaving the Wads- 
worth seam and continuing southeast, after passing over 
one hundred feet of measures, you will find a sandstone 
tbat is remarkably concretionary in places, but immediately 
above the Wadsworth is a coarse sandstone that shows very 
red at the surface. Ascending in the measures to a point 
one hundred and twenty feet above the Wadsworth seam 
you will arrive at a hard micaceous grey sandstone con- 
taining a thin ten inch seam ; a.t one hundred and seventy- 
five feet above the Wadsworth is another thin seam of 
about twelve inches ; about two hundred feet above the 
Wadsworth is a fossiliferous grey sandstone; about two 
hundred and fifty feet above the Wadsworth is a massive 



CAHABA COAL FIELD: CAHABA BASIN. 65 

grey sandstone ; above this you will find the Coke Oven 
seam, and forty-four feet above it the Shute seam, but I do 
not consider that there is a sufficient area of the two last 
mentioned seams in this basin to justify preparations for 
extensive working. 

On the northwest side of the Cahaba basin, the rate of 
dip is very regular, varying from about 15° to 20° ; on the 
southeast side of the basin the rate of dip is much more 
steep, being mostly from 25° up to 75*^. 

The Gould seam and the Wadsworth seam are the two 
principal working seams in this basin, both making a first- 
class coke ; the coke from the Gould seam used to be con- 
sidered by the foundry men of the State as the best coke 
that they could get. 

The South Birmingham Coal and Iron Company are 
working the Wadsworth in this basin at Sydenton, by 
means of a slope driven down southeastwards from the 
northwest outcrop. 

The above mentioned slope, if continued on to the lowest 
part of this basin, will drain an immense area of the Wads- 
worth seam. This basin has the great advantage of having 
the Louisville and Nashville Company's main line (S. and 
N. A. R. R.) running through the middle of it. 

An analysis of the coke recently made from the Wads- 
worth mine, in the South Birmingham Coal and Iron Com- 
pany's slope at Sydenton, in this basin, gave the following 
results : 

Analysis of Coke made from the Wadsworth Seam by Alfred 
Brainerd, of Birmingham, Alabama. 

Moisture 100 

Volatile 2.050 

Fixed Carbon 90.183 

Sulphur 0.617 

Ash 7.050 



100.000 
Condition : Good color, ash brick red, specific gravity 
1.763. 

This is a first rate coke, and one of the best in the South- 
ern States. 
6 



66 



GEOLOGICAL SURTEY OF ALABAMA. 



The Whetrock seam, or under-seam of the Wadsworth, is 
thin at this point. 

The following i^ a section of the Wadsworth and Whet- 
rock seams in the Cahaba basin, the Wadsworth being the 
upper, and separated from the Whetrock by forty feet of 
measures : 

[Wadsworth and Whetrock seams, at the Carr & Davis slope, in N. W. y^ 
of N. W. }/i of section 0, township 20, S., range 3, W.; direction of 
strike N., 15° E. from the true meridian, direction of dip S., 75° E., 
rate of dip 16°]. 



30 ^ECj COfffiSE: s/^/Josj-o/Vs 




3f££f 3 if^c/-/£:s <?oao CO/71. 






/ J^o or 3 i/^cf^cs S L»T£ 
lO/^edy- G-^>ttY' s^/^T'^ 
C 0/7 /=r s £• S /f/^o s 7-c»//£. 

Since the above section was made the South Birmingham 
Coal and Iron Company, who have bought the property as 
stated above, have driven the slope further down in the 
basin and I am informed they found the Wadsworth much 
thicker than three and a quarter feet. 

The Gould seam, I consider after examining it at different 
points, will average three feet in thickness in this basin ; it 
is an easily mined coal and has a good roof ; I have always 
found it in this basin a solid seam, without any serious 
layers of slate in it, though I have seen it in the Coosa field 
with a twelve inch layer of slate in the middle of it. The 
Gould seam in the Cahaba field bids fair to be worked ex- 
tensively in the future for the purpose of making a superior 
quality of coke. 

The Soutli and North Vertical Section and the Helena Hori- 
zontal Section (from "I" to "J") on the accompanying map, 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : CAHABA BASIN. 67 

will show the seams of this basin and their relative posi- 
tion. 

The Wadswoith seam in this basin was mined near the 
railroad bridge during the war by Woodson & Gould, and 
by various parties since. 

Immediately after the war, William Gould opened a drift 
on the Gould seam at a point about a mile southwest of the 
high trestle where the Gould outcrop crosses the South 
and North Alabama Railroad ; from this point he supplied 
the foundaries of Alabama with a superior coke for their 
cupolas. 

For analysis of the Wadsworth coal, see chapter on the 
Helena basin. 



CHAPTER VI, 



THE EUREKA BASIN. 

The Eureka basin lies southwest of the town of Helena, 
the north end of it being about half a mile southwest of the 
Helena depot, on the South and North Alabama Railroad- 
It is bounded on the north by the Helena basin, on the 
southeast by the great boundary fault separating the Car- 
boniferous from the Cambrian measures, on the south by 
the Beaverdam fault, separating it from the Dry Creek 
basin, and on the northwest side by the interior fault vertical 
measures. 

The following is a description of its boundary : Com- 
mencing at the great boundary fault on the east side of the 
coal field at a point about half a mile southwest of the 
South and North depot at Helena, thence south by a few 
degrees west, along the boundary fault leaving Hillsboro 
fifty yards to your right, leaving R. T. Duunan's house 
about a quarter of a mile to your left, continuing along 
boundary fault until you get nearly opposite Mrs. Peel's 
house, thence westerly along the Beaver Dam fault, mostly 
along Beaver Dam Creek, to the half mile post of the south 
side of section 25, township 20, range 4, west ; this brings 
you to the southeast boundary of the Interior fault meas- 
ures; thence northeast along the southeast edge of the In~ 
terior fault, leaving Lainey Ford sis or seven hundred yards 
to your left, continuing on northeast until you arrive oppo' 
site the half-mile post on the east side of section 17, town- 
ship 20, range 3, west ; thence southeast to the point of 
commencement. Your last course will be nearly parallel 
with the public road, the road being south or southwest 
of it. 

This basin is drained by the Cahaba River and Beaver 
Dam Creek and their branches. 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is the one that 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : EUREKA BASIN. 69 

begins to become high close to Hillsboro, (formed by the 
roof rock of the Helena seam,) from thence continuing 
southwest almost over the synclinal of the Eureka basin ; 
this ridge is generally called the Hillsboro Divide, the 
gorge of Beaver Dam Creek cutting through it. Quite a 
number of other smaller ridges run parallel with it — the 
Conglomerate ridge and others. 

The length of this basin is three miles, by an average 
width of one and eight-tenths miles. Its area is five and 
four-tenths square miles, and it contains, in seams of over 
two feet in thickness, and less than three thousand feet in 
vertical depth, 83,000,000 tons of workable coal, (2,000 
pounds,) without making any allowance for loss in pillars, 
or waste in mining. 

The form or strike of the measures and coal outcrops in 
the ends of this basin is quite in contrast to what is seen 
at the ends of the other basins in this coal field, viz : The 
measures at the north end are part of them bent sharply 
around at an acute angle ; those at the south end are bent 
around forming a clearly defined right angle or very near 
it ; the other basins show the measures and outcrops bend- 
ing around more gradually, some of them forming a half 
circle or fishhook shape. The lowest seam in this basin 
workable by slope, is the Wadsworth, the Nunnally seam 
being too close to the interior fault to allow of it being reli- 
able. The next workable seam above the Wadsworth is the 
Buck, then immediately above the Buck seam is the Black- 
shale ; both these seams are close to the Helena and Gur- 
nee branch of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad ; above 
these seams and to the southeast of them are the Little 
Pittsburg seam, the Conglomerate seam, and the Helena 
seam. 

The Eureka Company are now working the Helena seam 
in this basin by means of a slope driven down from the 
outcrop to the southeast ; said slope is driven down to the 
synclinal of the basin and is now ascending the opposite 
dip. The workings in this slope prove the Helena seam to 
be a good seam of an average thickness of four feet of solid 
coal, with no slates or impurities except that about two or 
three inches of the middle of the seam is rather bony ; even 



70 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

this burns to an ash along with the other without fail. The 
coal of this seam ranks high as a domestic coal, but it is 
now used by the Eureka Company for the purpose of coke- 
making at their ovens on their branch railroad ; said ovens 
are between the Birmingham Mineral Blocton branch and 
the Eureka Company's Branch Railroad about a quarter of 
a mile from Tacoa Station, on the South and North Ala- 
bama Eailroad. The Eureka Company apply the coke to 
iron smelting at their Oxmoor furnaces, six miles south of 
Birmingham. 

The Eureka Company's Branch Railroad extends from 
Tacoa depot, on the South and North Alabama Railroad, to 
their No. 2 slope, in the Eureka basin, a distance of about 
two miles. The coke ovens and the houses of the miners 
are on this branch railroad, between the Louisville and 
Nashville Company's main line and slope No. 2. 

The rate of dip of the measures of the Eureka basin is 
mostly from 28° to 42°; the exceptions are, the very steep 
dips on the southeast side of the basin, approaching to the 
vertical, and the measures of the synclinal which flatten up 
to a rate of dip as low as 2" or 3°. 

The seams of this basin are mostly of good quality ; the 
Wadsworth, a seam of three feet to three and a half feet, 
yields a very good coking coal, is easily mined, has a good 
roof, and in the Bee Hive oven makes a first-class coke. 

The Buck is a seam averaging about four feet, is a good 
coal, and will also coke. The Blackshale, a seam of three 
to three and a half feet, is a very pure, clean seam, makes a 
good domestic and steam coal, and has a good, hard, safe 
roof. The Little Pittsburg, a seam of two and a half to 
three feet, holds an excellent quality of coal for domestic 
use, but I do not know whether it will make a good coke or 
not — it is a good steam coal. The Conglomerate seam is 
also a good coal of from three to five feet in thickness, but 
liable to layers of smut in the interior of it, so closely re- 
sembling coal that none but an expert can well detect it. 
The Helena is a very good seam of about four feet in thick- 
ness, and is also used largely for coking purposes. 

The following is a section of the Wadsworth seam in this 
basin : 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : EUKEKA BASIN. 



71 



Wadsworth seam in S. W. ^ of N. E. J4, in section 20, township 20, S., 
range 3, W : rate of dip 38°]. 







Sr^^T Z //^c^eis C0/1L 



Boj-fo/^ SL'/^ys: 



Eor the relative position of the seams of this basin, see 
the South and North Vertical Section and the Helena Hori- 
zontal Section from "I" to "J" on the accompanying map. 

The only method of working the seams of this basin 
hitherto practised, has been the method largely used in 
Pennsylvania of working the coal "on the run," that is, by 
driving the slope down in the direction of the dip, then 
driving the gangways horizontally from it, working the 
rooms up the rise at right angles from the gangways, allow- 
ing the coal to run down the room of shutes by its own 
gravity into the mine cars, a method well suited to all our 
seams that have a rate of dip of over 40°: (instead of a 
slope, a drift or vertical shaft can be used.) (a). 

(a) Thirty years ago Ihe writer worked a seam near Montevallo, 
having a rate of dip of 65° by the same method, and found it suited 
that rate of dip the very best, but owing to the very steep dip I was 
compelled to have the miners keep their shutes full up to their "room 
breasts" to prevent the pulverization of the coal by flinging it violently 
down an empty or partly empty shute ; the coal was loaded in the mine 
cars at the bottom sufBcienlly fast, to give the miners working room at 
the top of the room shnte ; the run of the coal was checked by curving 
the bottom of the shute a little, and by using short poles or planks 
whenever the mine car was full. Very little shovelling was necessary 
to load the mine cars; part of the room was posted off and lagged for 
the slate gob ; sometimes the coal would scaffold or lodge a consider- 
able distance up the shute, but a shot gun loaded with large buckshot 
and fired up the shute would loosen it, it being entirely too dangerous 
for a man to ascend the shute to loosen it. 



72 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

For all dips of 40"^ and upwards, the writer considers the 
above naethod the best, but whenever the rate of dip be- 
comes low enough to prevent the coal descending the shute 
of its own accord, then it is not feasible to keep the shute 
full of coal up to the room breast. 

The following four analysis of coal from the seams of the 
Eureka basin were made by Dr. Otto Wuth, of Pittsburg, 
Pa , each sample was a barrel full of coal obtained by cut- 
ting a channelled section with a pick through the whole 
seam : 

Helena Seam Coal. 

Water 23 

Bitumen 32.53 

Fixed carbon 61 . 26 

Ash 5 . 85 

Sulphur 0. 13 

Conglomerate or Thompson Seam Coal. 

Water 30 

Bitumen 31.36 

Fixed carban 65 . 45 

Ash 2.81 

Sulphur 08 

Little Pittsburg Seam Coal. 

Water 18 

Bitumen 32.69 

Fixed carbon 63 . 40 

Ash 3.52 

Sulphur 0.21 

Moyle- Seam Coal. 

Water 17 

Bitumen 31.49 

Fixed carbon 60.60 

Ash 7.56 

Sulphur 0. 18 

The two following analysis were made by J, L. Beeson, 
from samples obtained from a channelled section of the two 
seams named : 

No. 1. — Helena seam, from the Eureka Company's slope 
in northern part of S. 29, T. 20, K. 3, W. 

No. 2. — Wadsworth seam, from Smith slope of the Eureka 
Company, S. 20, T. 20, R. 3, W. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : EUREKA BASIN. 



73 





No. 1. 


No. 1. 


Moisture 


1.669 
30.541 
54 879 
12 911 


1.098 


Volatile matter 


34.670 


Fixf'd carbon 


59 . 632 


Ash 


4 600 








Sulphur in coil 

Sulphur in coke. . . . 


100 000 

1.141 
.790 


100.000 

1 275 

.821 






Per cent of sulphur in 


coke 


1 6(>6 


1 278 



CHAPTER VII. 



TBE DRY CREEK BASIN. 

The Dry Creek basin is situated three or four miles south- 
west of Helena, and northeast of Gurnee. It is bounded on 
the north by the Eureka basin, on the east by the great 
boundary fault that divides the Cambrian from ti^e Carbon- 
iferous measures, on the south by tlie Piney Woods fault 
and anticlinal that separate it from the Lolley basin, on the 
southwest it is bounded by the interior fault vertical coal 
measures. 

The boundary of the Dry Creek basin is as follows : 
Commencing at a point about two hundred yards northeast 
of Lacey depot, on the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham 
Railroad, and going thence along the Piney Woods fault, 
almost due west, for about two miles ; thence along said 
fault at a bearing of about south 68^ west, to the southwest 
corner of section 15 ; thence northwest to the southeast 
edge of the interior fault near the northwest corner of sec- 
tion 16, township 21, range 4 west ; thence northeastwards 
along the southeast edge of the interior fault to the half 
mile post on the south side of section 25, township 20^ 
range 4 west ; thence nearly east, or about south 83'^ east, 
along the Beaver Dam fault to that part of the boundary 
fault in section 33, township 20, range 3 west, nearly oppo- 
site the Mrs. Peel house; thence south by a few degrees 
west along the boundary fault, passing close by the south- 
west corner of section 33, leaving the Mrs. Draper house a 
lew yards to the right, passing close by the middle of sec- 
tion 5, then curving around with the boundary fault a little 
more eastward, to the point of beginning at the boundary 
fault two hundred yards northeast of Lacey depot. 

This basin is drained by the Cahaba river and its tribu- 
taries, Beaver Dam Creek, Dave Redding Creek, Peel's 
Creek, Buzzard Creek, Piney Woods Creek, and Dry Creek. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : DKY CREEK BASIN. 75 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is the high ridge 
over the synclinal of the basin near the southwest corner of 
section 5, township 21, range 3 west ; in this high ridge is 
seen the roof rock of the Montevallo seam ; I saw the out- 
crop of said seam i'j the bank of Dry Creek twenty years 
ago, but it is now covered up by the wash from the hill. 

Another prominent ridge in this basin is that known as 
the "Divide," and it is formed of the roof rocks of the Hel- 
ena seam, running parallel with the outcrop of said seam 
from Piney Woods Creek to near the northeast corner of 
the basin. This ridge, after it leaves the Stinson place, 
near Piney Woods Creek, runs northeast for about four 
miles, theii turns nearly east to the edge of the coal field 
opposite the Fountain Wyatt and Mrs. Peel farms. 

This basin is five and a half miles in length by an aver- 
age width of two miles and two-tenths. It contains a sur- 
face area of twelve and one-tenth square miles, and con- 
tains in workable seams of two feet and upwards in thick- 
ness 202,000,000 of tons of coal, (2,000 pounds,) without 
making any allowance for loss in mine pillars, or waste in 
mining ; this amount of coal is within a limit of 4,300 feet 
in vertical depth. 

The wagon roads of this basin are the two Lindsey roads 
(made by James Lindsey); one of them runs from his place 
in the northeast corner of section 3, township 21, range 4 
wej-t, bearing southeast through the south half of the basin 
and joins the Helena and Montevallo wagon road at the 
Mrs. Lacey place and the Carroll place. The other Lind- 
sey road leaves the Lindsey farm and runs northeast along 
the strike of the seams to Helena. Another wagon road 
leaves the Helena and Montevallo road at the Mrs. Peel 
place and the Fountain Wyatt place, and follows along the 
top of the Divide ridge down to Piney Woods Creek — this 
road leads to Gurnee. Another wagon road leaves the 
William Lacey place in 'Possum Valley and following along 
the edge of the basin leads to the Ryan place on the 
"Divide," in the southwest corner of the basin. 

The Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad ex- 
tends along the south boundary of the basin for a distance 
of about five miles. 



76 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

The Blocton Branch of the Birmingham Mineral Eailroad 
passes through the western portion of the basin for a dis- 
tance of five miles, extending on to Gurnee, and, having a 
lease from the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Road 
from Gurnee to Blocton, the same road is enabled to con- 
nect with Blocton. 

The principal workable seams of this basin are the Buck 
seam, Blackshale seam, Conglomerate seam, Helena seam, 
and the Montevallo seam. The Shute and the Coke seam 
are in workable condition southwest of this in the Dailey 
Creek basin, but in this basin, a thorough test along their 
outcrops will have to decide their condition for mining pur- 
poses. 

The rate of dip of these measures in this basin varies 
from 2^ or 3^ in that portion south of Dry Creek, to 80^ at 
the south edge of the basin next to the Piney Woods fault. 
The measures on the west or northwest side have an inter- 
mediate rate of dip between the dips of the two previously 
mentioned points. 

The South, and North and the Dailey Greek Vertical Section 
and the Dry Greek Horizontal Section from "K" to "L," on 
the accompanying map, show the relative position of the 
seams of this basin. 

There has been no mining done in this basin except a lit- 
tle outcrop coal dug for blacksmith purposes by the farm- 
ers in the neighborhood, no underground work has been 
done in any part of it up to this date. 

There is an immense amount of coal nearly level in this 
basin with the advantage of two recently constructed rail- 
roads, now nearly finished, running through and alongside 
of it — the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham on the south 
edge of it, and the Birmingham Mineral in the northwest 
portion of it. This basin has been a wild, sparsely settled 
country up to about twelve months ago ; two years ago no 
one lived in the interior of the basin ; at that time the only 
settlers about it were Mrs. Draper and her son, D. D. 
Draper, Herve and Burt Carroll on the east boundary of 
the basin, Columbus Benton on the north boundary, and 
James Lindsey on the western boundary of the basin. This 
basin bids fair to become the scene of busy mining opera- 
tions in the near future. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : DRY CREEK BASIN. 



77 



The following is a measured section of the Helena seam 
at its southern outcrop in section 12, the measures here 
having a very steep rate of dip : 

[Helena seam in section 13, toivnship 31 S., range 4 W.; direction of strike 
N. 65° E., S. 65° W. magnetic; direction of dip N. 25° W.; rate of 
dip 80° from horizontal. 

/^ooj- V/fZcf^Ef. Oooo OofrL 
^///C/^£S Qooo GO/JL 




CHAPTER VUl. 



THE GOULD BASIN. 

The Gould basin is situated to the north of Gurnee, to 
the southwest of Helena, and on the northwest side of the 
Cahaba Coal Field ; it is bounded on the southeast side by 
the Interior fault vertical coal measures, on the northeast 
end by the Cahaba basin, on the northwest side by the Sub- 
Carboniferous measures of Shades Valley, on its southwest 
end by the Blocton basin. 

The following is a description of the boundary of said 
basin : Commencing on the northwest edge of the Interior 
fault vertical measures, near the mouth of Lainey Branch ; 
thence northwest along Lainey Branch to the base of the 
Millstone Grit at a point a half a mile northeast of Genery's 
Gap where the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Rail- 
road cuts through Shades Mountain; thence southwest 
along the base of the Millstone Grit, crossing the Brier- 
field, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad at the northwest 
end of the Genery Gap Railroad cut in Shades Mountain ; 
continuing on southwest along the base of the Millstone 
Grit, Shades Yalley being in plain view, leaving the Richard 
Tyler house and the Squire John Harmon house to your 
left ; from opposite the John Harmon house your course 
will be more westward, (about 70° west,) continuing along 
the base of the Millstone Grit, crossing Shades Creek a 
short distance below the mouth of Roup's Creek, leaving 
Kimbrall's Mill to your right, until you arrive at a sharp 
bend in Shades Mountain in the south end of section 3, 
township 21, range 5 west ; from this point southeastwards 
along the wagon road that leads from Booth's Ferry to 
Roup's Iron Works, crossing Shades Creek near Shades 
Creek church, leaving the Miller farm and the flat measures 
of the Blocton basin to your right ; crossing the Cahaba 
River at Booth's Ferry near the mouth of Lick Creek'; a 



OAHABA COAL FIELD : GOULD BASIN. 79 

few yards farther brings jou to the Interior fault vertical 
coal measures ; tbence northeastwards along the northwest 
edge of the vertical measures of the Interior fault, crossing 
Cahaba river again in the southwest corner of section 17, 
township 21, range 4 west ; continuing along the edge of 
said fault, crossing Ward's Creek, Shaw's Creek, mouth of 
Hurricane Creek, the two Sandstone branches; crossing 
Trigger Creek and continuing on to opposite the mouth of 
Lainey Branch, the point of commencement; this point is 
about three-quarters of a mile northeast of Lainey Ford. 

The Gould basin is drained by the Cahaba river and its 
tributaries — Shades Creek, Hancock Creek, Ward's Creek, 
Shaw's Creek, Hurricane Creek, Little Sandstone Branch, 
Big Sandstone Branch, Trigger Creek and Lainey Branch. 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is Shades Moun- 
tain ; at the southwest end of this basin it is named Sand 
Mountain. The next one in size and prominence is the one 
next to Shades Mountain on its southeast side ; running 
parallel with it. This is called Pine Ridge in the northeast 
end of the basin — but is named House Mountain in the mid- 
dle of the basin, and Hurricane Ridge in the southwest end 
of the basin. The next one in size and prominence is Red 
Ridge. This one, on the South and North Alabama Rail- 
road, is called Red or Chestnut Ridge, and contains the 
upper measures of the Millstone Grit formation. 

These three ridges just mentioned are all parallel with 
one another from one end of the basin to the other. At 
the southwest end they become broken. There are other 
ridges of less prominence, mostly running parallel with 
those above mentioned. All these ridges are cut by some 
of the smaller creeks and branches, except Shades or Sand 
Mountain ; this mountain is cut through only in one place, 
that is at the southwest end of the basin where Shades 
Creek cuts a eap in it, in its course from Shades Valley to 
Cahaba river. 

The length of this basin is nine and three-quarter miles 
by an average width of two and two-tenths miles, and it 
contains a surface area of twenty-one and a half square 
miles. It contains in seams of two feet and upwards of 
workable coal, 77,000,000 tons (2,000 pounds), within a 



80 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

limit of 2,500 feet in vertical depth ; in this computation 
no allowance is made for loss in pillars, or waste in mining 
the coal. 

The principal wagon roads in this basin are the Tusca- 
loosa and Columbiana road — this road enters the southwest 
end of the basin near Shades Creek church, and continues 
along the foot of the southeast side of Eed Kidge nearly all 
the way to Lainey Ford where it leaves the basin. The 
next wagon road in importance is the one at the southwest 
end of the basin leading from Booth's Ferry to Tannehill 
Station, on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. Another 
wagon road connecting Brock's Station with John Har- 
mon'a place and Kimbrall's Mill, leads along the top of 
Shades Mountain from near Brock's Gap to John Harmon's, 
there it descends the north side of the mountain and leads 
to Kimbrall's Mill in Shades Yalley. Another wagon road 
leaves the Columbiana and Tuscaloosa road, where said 
road intersects Hurricane Creek, follows up the side of 
Hurricane Creek passing close by Lindsey's old mill and 
gin joining the road on the top of Shades Mountain at Rich- 
ard Tyler's. Another wagon road leaves the Tuscaloosa and 
Columbiana road two or three hundred yards southwest of 
Lainey Ford, passes through the Horton and Doss places, 
then through Genery's Gap to Bessemer and Birmingham. 

The Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad enters 
the basin at the north end of sec' ion 9, township 21, range 
4 west, follows up Ward's Creek, passing through gaps in 
Red Ridge and House Mountain or Pine Ridge ; then pass- 
ing through the deep cut in Shades Mountain at Genery's 
Gap; thence across Shades Valley passing through Spark's 
Gap in Red Mountain and on to Bessemer and Birmingham 
over the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. This part of 
the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad extends 
from Gurnee to its junction with the Alabama Great South- 
ern at a point about three miles southwest of Bessemer. 
In its course it passes over the outcrop of the Gould seam. 

The most important and valuable seam in this basin is 
the Gould seam ; it extends the whole length of the basin. 
A few years ago, J. L. Davis made a series of tests along 
the outcrop for about six miles in this basin, and as a result 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : GOULD BASIN. 



81 



of said tests, reported that the average thickness of the 
Gould seam was about three feet. This seam has the repu- 
tation of making a coke equal to the Pocahontas, for iron 
smelting purposes, and it can be easily mined ; probably in 
the future it will supply a good part of the demand for a 
superior coke. Twenty years ago it had the best reputation 
of any in the State, as making a good cupola or iron foun- 
dry coke. The Gould seam in this basin is not yet mined, 
as the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad is not 
yet completed, so at present there are no facilities for ship- 
ping it from this basin. That part of this seam next to the 
South and North Alabama Railroad is so divided up by 
rival ownerships that there is little possibility of its being 
mined there until some of the owners either form a combi- 
nation or solidify the tracts by purchase, thus making the 
tract area of fair working size. 

The next seam in extent in this basin is the Nunnally 
seam, which the tests in this locality find to contain two 
feet nine inches of coal ; still, a more thorough test along the 
outcrop may prove it to have a slightly larger or smaller 
average thickness. This basin has also a limited amount 
of the Wadsworth seam, with an average thickness of three 
feet three inches. This is a first-class seam for iron manu- 
facturing purposes. 

The following is a section of the Gould seam : 

[Gould seam in N. W. ^ of N. W. \^, in section 24, township 20 S., range 







'S^£:£:y of Cfooo co/=tL 






The Bovili and North Vertical Section, and the Dry Creek 
6 



82 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

Horizontal 8(ction from "K" to "L," on the accompanying 
map, will give the relative position of the seams in this 
basin ; the Dry Creek Horizontal Section showing the form 
or structure of the basin and its connection with the Sub- 
Carboniferous and the Interior fault vertical measures. 

The rate of dip of the measures of this basin varies 
mostly between fifteen and twenty-two degrees, and in 
some localities considerably more ; the dip is nearly every- 
where towards the southeast. There has been no mining 
hitherto in this basin as above stated, as it is only recently 
that railroads have begun to be constructed here. This, 
though, will soon be a thing of the past, for at present a 
great number of loud reports like the discharge of distant 
cannon can be heard daily and hourly made by the blasting 
operations going on in the construction of the Brierfield, 
Blocton and Birmingham Railroad through this basin. 

Note. — I have the information from a source that appears to be 
trustworthy, that in S. 12, T. 20, R. 4 W, in Genery's Gap, the Brock 
seam has been exposed in the railroad cut, and shows a thickness of 
four feet. E. A. S. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE LOLLET BASIN. 

The Lolley basin is situated to the east of Gurnee, to the 
southwest of Helena, and to the northwest of Montevallo ; 
it is bounded on the north by the Piney Woods fault and 
Dry Creek basin, on the east by the great boundary fault, 
on the west by Dailey Creek basin and a portion of the 
Montevallo basin, on the south by the Montevallo basin 
and the anticlinal between it and the Lolley basin. 

The following is a description of the boundary of the 
Lolley basin: Commencing at a point about two hundred 
yards northeast of Lacey depot on the Brierfield, Blocton 
and Birmingham Railroad ; thence along the Piney Woods 
fault almost due west for about two miles along the fault 
thence along the said fault at a bearing of about S. 68° 
W., to the southwest corner of section 15, township 21, 
range 4 west ; thence south and southeastwards up Jesse's 
Creek to the southeast corner of section 35, township 21, 
range 4 west; thence almost due east along the anticlinal 
between the Lolley and Montevallo basins to opposite Dog- 
wood Grove Church on the east edge of the boundary fault ; 
thence northwards along the west edge of the boundary 
fault, passing to the left of Mayline depot, continuing along 
the boundary fault to the point of commencement near 
Lacey depot. 

This basin is drained by Piney Woods Creek, Beaver 
Dam Creek, Shoal Creek, King's Creek, Jesse's Creek, and 
Lick, or Big Creek. 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is the "Divide,'' 
mostly called Pea Eidge, that separates the waters drain- 
ing into the Cahaba river from those draining into Shoal 
Creek or Little Cahaba river ; this divide commences west 
of the Mayline depot and southwest of the Lacey depot on 
the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad, and con- 



84 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

timies southwestwards dividing the drainage as aforesaid, 
down to where the Little Cahaba river joins the Big Cahaba 
river in Bibb county; this high and prominent ridge has 
been the great obstacle to the construction of a straight line 
of railroad through this part of the Cahaba Coal Field, the 
bend of the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad 
at Lacey depot became a necessity in order to obtain easy 
grades. This ridge is made by the Montevallo Conglom- 
erate. The next prominent ridge is the one south of Piney 
Woods fault, commencing at the east edge of the coal field 
opposite William Lacey's farm and continuing westwards 
for four or five miles on the south side of Piney Woods 
Creek. There are also a number of irregularly formed 
ridges besides- the above in other parts of the basin. 

There are no public roads in this basin ; vfhat wagon 
roads there are in it, are better fitted for oxen than any 
other animals. The principal road in the basin is the one 
that leaves the Montevallo and Elyton road at William 
Lacey's and follows the top of the high ridge south of Piney 
Woods Creek, and leads on to the Henrj' Clark house ; 
thence to the Anderson Allen house, here making a turn 
south and going to Newton Lolley's place, continuing on to 
the Bethel church on the Montevallo and Boothtown wagon 
road. The next wagon road in importance is the one lead- 
ing from William Lacey place to Elias Walker's place, pass- 
ing Dustin Dean's place and Isaac Walker's place on the 
way, then, at Elias Walker's branching off, one prong lead- 
ing to Dogwood Station, the other to the Montevallo and 
Boothtown road at the Mrs. Lucas place, and to Bethel 
church by Newton Lolley's. These are all rougn roads, 
and will not admit of hauling heavy loads along them, 
There are other roads to which the name of trails would be 
most appropriate, one going down Piney Woods Creek 
bank to the old Ptyan place, another to the Henry Lee place, 
another to the Henry Lolley old place ; these are partly 
grown up, and they are barely safe to venture along with a 
vehicle. The Elyton and Montevallo wagon road is a pub- 
lic road; it follows along the east boundary of this basin in 
'Possum Valley but outside of the basin, passing close by 



OAHABA COAL FIELD : LOLLEY BASIN. 85 

Wilderness church, the Reneau place, Columbus Harper's, 
and the William Lacey farm. 

The Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad fol- 
lows close along the eastern and northern boundaries of 
this basin, joining the Birmingham Mineral at Piney Woods 
Station and Gurnee Station, there connecting with Blocton 
and Bessemer and Birmingham, and the Birmingham Min- 
eral Railroad to Helena and Birmingham ; the south end of 
said road connects with the East Tennessee, Virginia and 
Georgia Railroad at a point one mile southwest of Monte- 
vallo. 

The length of the Lolley basin is five and a quarter miles 
by an average width of three and fourteen hundredths 
miles ; its surface area is sixteen and a half square miles. 
The amount of workable coal it contains, in seams of two 
feet and upwards in thickness, and within a vertical depth 
of 4,400 feet, is 357,000,000 tons (of 2,000 pounds). This 
computation makes no allowance for loss in pillars, or waste 
in mining. 

The lowest workable seam outcropping in this basin is 
the Gholson ; it outcrops in a few places along the Piney 
Woods fault, but in most places along this fault the seam 
is down in the fault. I have made a slight effort to cut its 
outcrop in that locality, but lack of time prevented me giv- 
ing it a thorough test along the outcrop. This is an excel- 
lent seam with a good sandstone roof, in places having a 
thin layer of compact slate at the top of it ; and it will aver- 
age in thickness, in my estimation, four feet of good coal 
without slate partings. The next seam above this and out- 
cropping farther south, is the Little Pittsburgh, then above 
this and underlying the Conglomerate, is the Thompson or 
Conglomerate seam, then still farther southward is the out- 
crop of the Helena seam, of which the following is a meas- 
ured section : 



86 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



[Helena seam in section 18, tovmsMp 21, range 3 W.; direcUon of strike N. 
75° E.; S. 75° W. magnetic; direction of dip S. 15° B. magnetic; rate 
of dip 38°]. 



6/McfJi:s &/iiTTy' slflf^ co/^ypW'? 
dossils 




BfJEEj' 2 //^•://es Sooo COflL 



3 //\/c//£^S hr/-//-r/6/-/ Si./T/-E 

/fa<}j- S/s i/i'c/-f£:5 Gooo CO/9L 
J /^ooT ///Vc//' CO/7L 



As will be seen the Helena has two thin layers of slate in 
it. The Helena seam has higher rate of dip here than it 
has further west, but is thicker at this point, having four 
feet eight inches of coal. The following is another section 
of the Helena seam with a less rate of dip : 

[Helena Seam in Section 13, Toiunship 21 S., Range 4 W.; direction of 
strike N. 41° E.; direction of dip S. 4'J° E.; rate of dip 13°.] 



/ r^ -yy /o //^c/^je s C O/J L 
/ /,a/c// SLfjTe: 

// //^C.f^ES f^OOtD CO/7L 

3 .'/•/«:-//£- s 0/=l L 



The next seam of workable thickness outcropping above 
this, and farther south is the Yeshic seam. While I have 
not seen this seam more than two and a half to three feet 



: 


— — 





- — ■-- . 


^B 


nn 


iiiiiiil 


^^^^^^ 


^B 


■ — - - — j 


~ 


— 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : LOLLEY BASIN. 



87 



thick in this basin, yet in the Dailey Creek and Blocton 
basin it becomes four to five feet in thickness. 

The next workable seam outcroppinfj; still farther south, 
in this basin is the Montevallo seam ; this seam is thicker 
here than its average thicknsss in the Montevallo Basin. 
The following is a measured section : 

[Montevallo Seam in section 34, township SI S , range 4- W.] 



o o/\/(f I o/v7£r/?/i ys: 



----^^^ ^^-rsiry s/7/yos/-o//£ 




2 /,v'c/-/£rs ^/v/^ij-e: aLfrj-£ 



J /-'aoj- Co/=il. 



Above the Montevallo there are nearly five hundred feet 
of conglomerate interlarded with sandstones and slate. In 
this conglomerate formation, there are four seams of coa!, 
all of them either too thin or too impure to be workable. 
The first one, the "Air-shaft Seem," is about one hundred 
feet above the Montevallo ; the next one above this is the 
Black Fireclay seam of which the following is a measured 
section : 



OO GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

[Black Fireclay Seam in the N. W. corner of section 35, township 21 S., 
range 4 W.; rate of dip 2°.] 

L fljvi //V/riSD S/^jM D 5 Top/e 

2 //^C/^ES SOfJ WkJ/JE 5LflT£ 
5 //^c/^ss sorr cofiL 

^/Vc// BL/^c/^ SLATS 

/foor COffL 
9 irJc^ E^ Co/fL 

■^ir^cHes Co/lL 




The next seam above this is the Stine seam ; the top seam 
is the Luke seam, which can be seen above the Big Fall on 
Davis' Creek, at one of my test drifts made before or about 
the beginning of the late war ; the roof is a thick ledge of 
conglomerate. 

A peculiar feature marks that part of the Cahaba Coal 
Field having the Montevallo seam underneath it, viz : the 
ground is covered with scattering pebbles where the con- 
glomerate measures come to the surface ; where the sand- 
stones outcrop an absence of the pebbles will be noticed 
through a belt or strip of country until the nest ledge of 
conglomerate with its pebbles come to the surface. This is 
the case over a large area of the Lolley basin. The outcrop 
of the Montevallo seam on the accompanying map will 
show its limit. 

There is another, and in places, a thick ledge of conglom- 
erate over the Thompson seam ; it shows plainly on the 
surface, but this must not be confused with the conglomer- 
ate above the Montevallo, as it is a long distance underneath 
the Montevallo seam. There is another thin ledge of con- 
glomerate still below the above, this one is near the lower 
bench of the Mammoth seam, or Clarke. This will not 
cause confusion in this basin as it is close to or in the Piney 
Woods fault. 

The conglomerate formation above the Montevallo seam, 
has the purest springs of free stone water in the territory 
where they come to the surface, of any in this section of 
country. Wherever it forms^the surface rock, its topography 
being high or rolling, it is remarkably healthy, probably 
more so than any other part of the State. For a more de- 
tailed statement or description of these ledges of conglom- 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : LOLLEY BASIN. 89 

erate, see the section given in the first chapter. For the 
relative position of the seams of this basin, see the Dailey 
CreeJc Vertical Section, and the Dri^ Creek Horizontal Section, 
from "K" to "L," on the accompanying map. 

The rate of dip of the measures of this basin varies from 
fifty degrees on its north edge, next to the Piney Woods 
fault, to one or two degrees at the synclinal south of the 
Elias Walker place. At a point at about half a mile east of 
the Elias Walker house Lick Creek falls about one hundred 
feet vertical over a perpendicular cliff of conglomerate ; 
this is known in the settlement near as the "Big Falls." 
There has been no mining done hitherto in this basin ; the 
country is sparsely settled, about two years ago six families 
were all the inhabitants it then had ; they were Elias 
Walker and his son Isaac Walker, Newton Lolley, Anderson 
Allen, Henry Clark, and a well respected colored man 
named Dustin Lee and his family. The Lolley Basin is 
healthy but not well adapted for farming purposes, except 
along the creek bottoms. 

My first examination of this basin was made in 1860, 
when I was employed by the Alabama Coal Mining Com- 
pany to make a preliminary survey of their lands in this 
basin, and to make a more thorough survey of their lands 
in that portion of the Montevallo Basin which was then 
tapped by their branch railroad. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE MONTEVALLO BASIN. 

The Monteva]lo Basiu is situated to the northwest of 
Montevallo, and to the southeast of Guruee. It is bounded 
on the north by the Lolley Basin, on the east by the great 
boundary fault that separates tlie Carboniferous from the 
Cambrian measures, on the southeast by the Overturned 
measures and the fault separating them from the Montevallo 
Basin, on the southwest and west by the Dailey Creek Ba- 
sin, and on the north by the Lolley Basin. 

The following is an outline of the boundary of the Mon- 
tevallo Basin : Commencing at a point three hundred yards 
southeast of the Baker Mine entrance, at that part of the 
boundary fault where the fault immediately north of the 
"Over-turned measures" intersects it, thence south twenty- 
two degrees west, along the fault between the Over-turned 
measures and the Montevallo Basin a distance of one and 
three-quarter miles, to a point where that fault intersects 
Little Mayberry Creek ; thence in a northwestwardly direc- 
tion along the anticlinal, crossing Walker's Camp Branch, 
Jim's Branch, and Big Mayberry Creek, to the northwest 
corner of section 15, township 22, range 4 west; thence due 
north along the section line on the west side of sections 10 
and 3, to the southwest corner of section 34, township 21, 
range 4 west ; thence due northeast to the northeast corner 
of said section 34 ; thence southeastwardly up Jesse's creek 
to the southeast corner of section 35, township 21, range 4 
west ; thence nearly due east along the anticlinal between 
the Lolley Basin and the Montevallo Basin to nearly oppo- 
site Dogwood Grove Church at the east edge of the boun- 
dary fault, leaving the Davis Creek Falls to your right and 
the Ed. Davis' house to your left, to a point about three 
hundred yards southeast of Baker Mine, the point of com- 
mencement. 



C AH ABA COAL FIELD : MONTEVALLO BASIN. 91 

This basin is drained by King's Creek, Davis' Creek, 
Little Mayberry Creek, Walker's Camp Creek, Jim's 
Branch, Big Mayberry Creek, Lovelady Branch, Savage 
Creek, Rocky Branch and Jesse's Creek. 

The highest and most prominent ridge in this basin is 
Pea Ridge (formed by the Montevallo conglomerate), a high 
ridge, flat in places, that divides the waters draining into 
Little Cahaba River, and those draining into the Big Cahaba 
River ; it is irregular in shape, becoming high between the 
head waters of the creeks and branches that drain it. Its 
altitude above Shoal Creek is over 400 feet in places. 
There are various other ridges also due to the Montevallo 
conglomerate, between the head waters of Big Mayberry 
Creek, Jim's Creek, Little Mayberry Creek and Davis' 
Creek that are in vertical height above Shoal Creek over 
three hundred feet of barometrical measurement. The re- 
markable feature of these ridges, is the immense amount 
of conglomerate pebbles scattered over the ground, where 
the difi"erent layers of the great Montevallo conglomerate 
(above seam of same name) crop out at the surface ; all of 
the high lands underlaid by this Montevallo conglomerate 
are remarkably healthy. 

The principal wagon roads of this basin are the Monte- 
vallo and Boothtown or Gurnee road ; the Columbiana and 
Booth's Ferry road ; the Aldrich and Blocton road ; the 
road from Bethel Church along Pea Ridge ; and the Aid- 
rich and Dogwood Grove road ; besides these there are 
various other roads partly grown up with undergrowth, and 
former roads that are now used as cattle trails or bridle 
paths. 

Of railroads in this basin, the Brierfield, Blocton, and 
Birmingham railroad runs close along its eastern edge, with 
stations at Dogwood and at Aldrich ; the Montevallo Coal 
and Transportation company have a short line of railroad 
running from their slope in the Montevallo seam, in the 
southeast quarter of section 24, township 22, range 4 west, 
and joining the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham rail- 
road a short distance south of Aldrich depot ; these are all 
the railroads connected with the basin at present. 

This basin is four and one-tenth miles (4 1-10) in leogth, 



92 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

by an average width of three and three tenths (3 3-10) miles, 
and contains a surface area of thirteen and eighty-six hund- 
redths (13 86-100 square miles. 

The amount of workable coal it contains in seams of two 
feet and upward in thickness, is 300,000,000 of tons (of 
2,000 pounds,) without any allowance being made for loss in 
pillars or waste in mining. 

The lowest workable seam outcropping in this basin is 
the Montevallo seam ; it is also the highest outcropping 
workable seam in the basin. There are six other seams out- 
cropping in this basin besides the Montevallo seam, two 
below and four above the Montevallo, but all six are either 
too thin or too impure to be workable. My examinations 
and tests of the most of these thin seams were made twenty- 
eight years ago ; I have tested the others at various times 
since. My tests in the two below the Montevallo were made 
on Walker's Camp Branch ; the Air Shaft seam was tested 
near the Baker mine ; the Black Fireclay seam test is on 
the headwaters of Jesse's Creek ; my tests on the Stine seam 
and the Luke seam were made on Davis' Creek ; the only 
■workable seam discovered yet, outcropping in the Monte- 
vallo basin is the Montevallo seam : this seam was dis- 
covered and mined three or four years before the beginning 
of the war. 

The writer mined this seam on a lease from the Alabama 
Coal Mining Company and Montevallo Coal Company in 
1859, shipping by what is now known as the East Tennes- 
see, Virginia and Georgia Railroad to Talladega and Selma, 
thence by Alabama river to Montgomery and Mobile. It 
was then considered the best domestic coal mined in the 
State. In fact, up to January, 1860, it was the only coal in 
the State that was shipped to market by railroad. The 
average thickness of this seam is from two and a half feet 
to two feet nine inches. The following is a section of it : 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : MONTEVALLO BASIN. 



[Montevallo seam in S. E. '4 of S. W. i4, of Kcclion 34, township 2.i S., 
range 4 W]. 



COi^CfLo}vj£fip-j-E %^ s/J//DSjro//£-$ 



.... 


'.- 


' 















1 




ri^^ 




'7-f.cjr/- W/^iy-/s/-/ gL/jj^ °f^ f ^°/^T 

6 //yc/^Es Of sf^iJr 

Zf££f9//yc/^£S qoOD CO/71. 



6,f£r£f BOJYOM sL/Tj-E 
eif/C^ElS CO/=/L 

4-f£Ej- sL/^te: 



The method of mining it is, first use a light mining pick 
and pick out the whole or part of the smut above the coal, 
then blast the coal out with powder or wedge it up with 
hammer and wedges. When blasted without first using the 
pick, the coal is more shattered and the amount of slack is 
increased. 

For relative positions of the seams in this basin see the 
General Vertical Section and Montevallo and Blocton Hori- 
zontal Section from "M" to "N" on accompanying map. 

It will be seen by these sections that all the other work- 
able seams of the Cahaba Coal Field are in this basin and 
underneath the Montevallo seam, so that the portion of this 



94 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

basin that has the Montevallo seam under its surface, con- 
tains all the workable seams of the Cahaba Coal Field. 

The rate of dip of the measures of this basin, varies from 
9° to flat or level measures in the synclinal part of the 
basin ; a large area along the synclinal of this basin is per- 
fectly level. 

For a distance of about two miles west and northwest of 
Aldrich depot on the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham 
Bailroad, the Montevallo seam has been worked by various 
companies in the past thirty-four years ; at present the only 
parties engaged in mining it are the Montevallo Coal and 
Transportation Company, of which William F. Aldrich is 
president, and James L. McConaughy, secretary and treas- 
urer. They have a good mi; e opened on the seam by slope, 
and are well able to supply the present demand for Monte- 
vallo coal. 

The 500 feet of measures above the Montevallo seam are 
a series of conglomerate ledges interlarded with pebbly 
sandstones and with sandstones. About the middle of these 
measures there is a fifty feet layer of dense conglomerate; 
this forms several "falls" on the creeks and branches of the 
Montevallo and Lolley basins ; the four thin seams "Air 
Shaft," "Black Fireclay," "Stine," and "Luke" are imbedded 
in the above mentioned 500 feet of measures. 

The layers of conglomerate vary in thickness and posi- 
tion; the plate next above the Montevallo seam is at places 
close down on the seam, while at other places it is 35 to 40 
feet above it. 

Analysis of coal fi^om the Montevallo seam, from Montevallo 
Coal and Transportation Companfs slope, Aldrich, Ala., 
hy J. L. Buson : 

Moisture 1.858 

Volatile matter 36.592 

S^!^.*:^'^°!':.'.'.'.:'.'.;:.'.:.'.':;.::::: ^t-mII ^oke 61.550 

100.000 

Sulphur in coal 1.726 

Sulphur left in coke 1.156 

Per cent, of sulphur in coke 1.878 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE OVEETURNED MEASURES. 

The Overturned Measures are situated to the west of 
Montevallo and to the northwest of Brierfield depot and 
rolling mills. 

The Overturned Measures are bounded on the north by 
the fault that separates them from the Montevallo basin 
and Dailey Creek basin ; on the east by the great boundary 
fault that separates the Carboniferous and Cambrian meas- 
ures ; on the south by the same great boundary fault that 
follows along the south edge of the Cahaba Coal Field. 

The following is a rough outline of the boundary of the 
Overturned Measures : Commencing at the great boundary 
fault about three hundred yards southeast of the Baker 
mine entrance ; thence southeastward along the fault that 
separates the Overturned Measures from the measures of 
the Montevallo and Dailey Creek basins, about two and a 
half miles ; thence along the fault nearly due west about 
three and a half miles to the middle of section 5, township 
24, range 11 east ; thence southwestward along said fault to 
the half mile post on the south side of section 15, township 
24, range 10 east, (this point is at the south boundary of 
the coal field;) thence eastwardly and northeastwardly along 
the boundary fault to the southwest corner of section 5, 
township 24, range 12 east, (this point is nearly opposite 
Thompson's mill on Shoal Creek;) thence along the bound- 
ary fault nearly due north, to the point of commencement, 
three hundred yards southeast of the Baker mine entrance. 

The Overturned Measures are drained by branches run- 
ning into Shoal Creek ; by Little Mayberry Creek, Big May- 
berry Creek, east prong of Four Mile Creek, west prong of 
Four Mile Creek, Alligator Creek, and some small branches 
running into Little Cahaba river. 

The most prominent ridge in the Overturned Measures is 
the Conglomerate ridge, immediately south of and parallel 



96 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

with the fault that separates the Overturned Measures from 
the Montevallo and the Dailey Creek basins ; there are other 
ridges of lesser prominence between the outcrops of the 
seams and following; parallel with them, but they are not so 
continuous as the Conglomerate ridge near the north edge 
of the Overturned Measures. 

The principal wagon roads in the Overturned Measures 
are as follows : the road leading from Montevallo to the old 
shaft ; the road leading from the Irish Pit to Thompson's 
Mill; the road leading from the Irish Pit to Peter's Mines ; 
the road leading from Pea Ridge to Potts' Tan Yard and to 
Peter's Mines ; the road leading from the Rainey slope to 
Montevallo ; the road leading from Berea Church to the 
Brierfield Coal and Iron Company's Smelting Furnace. 

Of railroads in the Overturned Measures the Brierfield 
Coal and Iron Company's Branch Railroad runs through a 
portion, connecting the company's coal mines, (known in the 
neighborhood as Peter's Mines), with the East Tennessee, 
Virginia and Georgia railroad ; the Brierfield, Blocton, and 
Birmingham railroad runs along the east end of the Over- 
turned Measures ; the branch railroad of the Montevallo 
Coal and Transportation company also runs through a por- 
tion of the East end of the Overturned Measures, connect- 
ing their slope in the Montevallo seam with the Brierfield, 
Blocton, and Birmingham Railroad. 

Twenty-nine years ago a branch railroad extending from 
what is now called Birmingham Junction Depot, out to the 
"old office," and from there was connected by tram-road 
with the "old shaft" or slope in one of the Overturned 
seams. The tram-road and a portion of said branch rail- 
road are now abandoned. 

The Overturned Measures are ten and a quarter (10^) 
miles in length by an average width of about one mile ; the 
surface area is ten and a quarter square miles. 

The amount of workable coal in seams of two feet and 
upwards in thickness in the Overturned Measures, is 
167,000,000 of tons (of 2,000 pounds) with a vertical depth 
of 4,500 feet. 

The conglomerate and the seams outcropping immedi- 
ately south of it, viz : the Dodd seam, Cooper, Shaft, Beebe^ 



OAHABA COAL FIELD : OVERTUENED MEASURES. 97 

and the Cannel seam are all overturned ; they all outcrop 
on Little Mayberry Creek and on the Big Mayberry Creek. 
The four hundred feet of conglomerate and sandstones next 
the fault, forming the north boundary of the Overturned 
Measures, is a part of the top or cap rock of our Alabama 
Coal Measures ; this is the lower part of the great Monte- 
vallo conglomerate. In examining all the above mentioned 
seams, the bottom slate was found to be on top in every 
case. a. 

The angle or rate of dip of these seams, varies from fifty- 
six degrees at the Cannel seam, to sixty degrees at the 
Cooper seam. I have examined these measures closely 
along their outcrops for over seven miles, and find them 
overturned the whole of that distance. The best point for 
examination of this portion of the Overturned Measures, is 
on Little Mayberry Creek about five hundred yards west of 
the old shaft or slope. The old shaft or slope was worked 
by the Montevallo Coal Mining company twenty-nine years 
ago, under my superintendence ; I had then an excellent 
opportunity to obtain a thorough knowledge of that part of 
the Overturned Measures. 

The Little Mayberry Creek at this point cuts in a direct 
course through the steep dipping measures that contain the 
above mentioned seams. The relative position of these 
seams is as follows : Commencing at the " fault" on Little 
Mayberry Creek, where you can put one foot on the Over- 
turned Measures, dipping at a rate of sixty degrees, and 
the other foot on the flat measures of the Montevallo Basin 
dipping only two or three degrees ; thence southward down 
the creek, passing various ledges of conglomerate inter- 
larded with sandstones on the way, a distance along the 
surface of three hundred and ninety feet (390) ; you have 
now passed over three hundred and thirty-eight (338) feet 
in thickness of measures. This brings you to the Dodd 
seam, and you have just passed over three hundred and 
thirty-eight feet of the lower part of the Montevallo con- 
glomerate. The Dodd vein is the Montevallo seam. Con- 
tinuing down the Little Mayberry Creek seventy-three feet 

a See Chapter I, and Introductory Chapter for further mention of the 
reversal of the strata. 
7 



98 



GEOLOGICAL 8UKVEY OF ALABAMA. 




farther, passing over sixty-three feet in thickness of meas- 
ures, you arrive at |the Cooper seam, which is the under 
seam of the Montevallo. (This underseam is exposed in the 
Dailey Creek Basin at a point three miles northwest of 
where it intersects Little Mayberry). Continuing on down 
the creek a distance of three hundred and twenty feet, the 
rate of dip being sixty degrees all the way from the "fault," 
you pass over since leaving the Cooper, two hundred and 
eighty (280) feet in thickness of measures, and have arrived 
at the Helena seam, of which the following is a section. 

[Helena Seam in section 1, township -'4 N., range 11 E. Rate of dip 65°] 

Oz/^ct/ES COPL 
S> if^cf^ES COflL 

Continuing on down the creek one hundred and forty-two 
(142) feet farther, passing over one hundred and twenty- 
four (124) feet in thickness of measures, you arrive at a 
ledge of conglomerate, (the previous four hundred and sixty- 
seven (467) feet in thickness being nearly all sandstone) ; 
thence down the creek a distance of two hundred and 
twenty-five (225) feet, passing over one hundred and ninety- 
seven (197) feet in thickness of measures, you arrive at the 
Shaft seam, of which the following is a section. 

[Shaft Seam in section 1, toivnship 24 N., range 11 E. Rate of dip 65°] 



/ JO 5 fESJ- f/pE-CLfty 
5 r£^^T ^ //^C//£S GOOD 

CO/7L 

Z/^EEJ SL/7TE 

sfi/\lD syo/^E. 




CAHABA COAL FIELD : OVEBTURNED MEASURES. 99 

Continuing on down the creek seventy- three feet farther, 
passing over sixty-three feet in thickness of measures, you 
arrive at the "Three Feet Seam ;" continuing on down the 
creek, a distance of three hundred and thirty-six (336) 
feet, you pass over two hundred and eighty-eight (288) feet 
in thickness of measures, and arrive at the Beebee seam ; 
thence down the said Little Mayberry Creek, square across 
the measures a distance of five hundred and twenty-nine 
(529) feet, passing over four hundred thirty-eight feet in 
thickness of measures, you arrive at the Cannel seam. The 
rate of dip of the rocks you have passed over are as follows : 
at the conglomerate between the "fault" and the Dodd seam 
the rate of dip is sixty-one degrees ; at the Helena, sixty- 
one degrees ; at the Shaft seam, sixty degrees ; at the Bee- 
bee seam, fifty-nine degrees ; and at the Cannel seam, fifty- 
six degrees. 

The average thickness of the above mentioned seams, as 
evidenced by the tests made, are as follows : 

Dodd, 4 to 6 feet. 

Cooper, 2% feet. 

Shaft seam, 4 feet. 

Three Feet, 2% to 3 feet. 

Beebee, 3 feet. 

Cannell, 3 feet, part of it bony. 

For relative position of the seams of the Overturned 
Measures, see the Liitle 3Iayberry Creek Vertical Section on 
the accompanying map. The seams near the south bound- 
ary of the Overturned Measures have been worked for sev- 
eral years by the Brierfield Coal and Iron Company at what 
is known as Peter's mines ; these seams have a south or 
southeast direction of dip, the same as the Dodd, Shaft, 
Beebee, and Cannel seams, on Little Mayberry Creek. 

The company sunk two slopes on the Lemley or B. seam, 
and from the bottom of this slope they tunnelled to the 0. 
or "Cubical vein," and to the D. or "Figh seam ;" they also 
tunnelled southwards to the A. seam, and hoisting the coal 
from all of them at the B. slope in the Lemley seam. My 
examination of these seams was made in 1859, when I gave 
to the B. seam the name of "Lemley," part of it being then 



100 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

owned by an old planter named Mennis Lemley, living on 
the plantation just south of it ; I gave the C. seam the name 
of "Cubical seam" on account of its having a cubical frac- 
ture; and named the D. seam "Figh seam," in remembrance 
of my friend George M. Figh, who died in Dallas, Texas. 

In passing through by Peter's mines slope in April, 1890, 
I noticed that the B. slope was stopped. 

I do not remember whether my examination of these 
seams in 1859 decided the question as to whether they were 
overturned ; that is, the bottom slate on top like the Dodd, 
Cooper, Shaft, Beebee, and Cannel seams, or not.a 

There is a thin seam between the B. and C. seams of 
about two to two and a half feet in thickness, that has 
never been worked. At the boundary fault, south of Peter's 
mines, there is an outcrop on Shoal Creek in section 12, 
township 24, range 11 east, that bends over and forms a 
complete arch, plainly to be seen exposed on the bank of 
the creek thirty-one years ago ; it may be covered up now 
by the falling in of the creek bank. This is one of the seams 
of the boundary fault measures. If the Figh, Cubical, 
Lemley, and A. seams are not overturned with the bottom 
slate on top like the Dodd, Cooper, Shaft, Beebee, and Can- 
nell seams on Little Maj^berry Creek, then there must be a 
fault between the two series of seams. I have not seen any 
surface evidence of any fault between them, more than tht; 
"hitch" in the measures about the middle of section 12, 
forming a slight zig-zag in their outcrops. 

The first mining done in the "Overturned Measures" was 
by the Alabama Coal Mining Company in or about the year 
1857, when they opened a series of "drifts" on Little May- 
berry Creek, in the Cooper seam, the Shaft seam, and Bee- 
bee seam ; then in the year 1859, the company sunk a slope 
on the Shaft seam to a depth of about 160 feet along the 
slope, the seam having a rate of dip of 60° to 61°. The 
company obtained a hoisting engine and boilers from 
Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, the cylinder of which is now in 
the scrap pile at the Shelby Rolling Mill, Helena. About 

alt seems most probable that these seams also are overturned, for at 
Thompson's Mill, a quarter of a mile south of the L-mley seam, occurs 
the instance of a coal seam with Cambrian rocks immediately above it, 
shown in the illustration given in the introductory chapter. E. A. S. 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : OVERTURNED MEASURES. lOl 

this time the company acquired some new stockholders and 
changed the name of the firm from Alabama Coal Mining 
Company to Montevallo Coal Mining Company, but I do 
not remember the exact date of the change. 

The company found it necessary to bring men from Penn- 
sylvania to fit up the engine and hoisting machinery; one of 
them, John Hartley, an Englishman, was brought to build 
the engine bed and boiler masonry.6 

Some machinists also came at the same time Hartley did. 

The company had gotten the slope sunk by means of 
horse power to the depth of 160 or 165 feet, and had driven 
the gangways out one or two hundred feet previous to my 
taking charge as superintendent of the company's works, 
obligating myself to keep the underground surveys ad- 
vanced up to the full progress of the work at the end of 
each month, and furnish the company with a geological 
map showing the seams on their property, which was done 
under some difficulties.c 

The aforesaid hoisting engine, boilers, and machinery 
from Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, was the first steam power 
machinery for hoisting coal ever used in Alabama. 

The stockholders of the company who first commenced 
to use the aforesaid hoisting machinery, were Col. John S. 
Storrs, of Montevallo, president of the company ; Judge 
Cooper, of Lowndes county ; Dr. Miller, of Wilcox county ; 
Alexander White, of Selma and Talladega ; Gen. C. Robin- 
son, of Lowndes or Wilcox counties, and John R. Keenan, 
of Selma, Ala., etc. These were the principal stockholders 
when the machinery was obtained. A little later on ex-Gov. 
T. H. Watts, George M. Figh, Benjamin B. Davis, and Dr. 
L T. Tichenor, all of Montgomery, became stockholders in 
the Montevallo Coal Mining Company, so it will be seen 

tiHartley, soon after his arrival, told me he ha,d been advised to bring 
a bowie knife and carry it with him all the time he was here ; after en- 
joying a good laugh at his expense for his causeless fears, I advised 
him to keep away from bar rooms and grog shops, and bury that knife 
until he started back to Pennsylvania. 

cMy first map presented to the board of directors showing the out- 
crop of the Montevallo seam, near where the mining is now going on, 
as shown on the accompanying map, was made on strong brown paper, 
called cotton paper, as it was mostly used to wrap up cotton samples iUt 



102 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

that tlie first efforts at the scientific mining of coal with 
steam machinery in Alabama were made by men mostly 
from the "Black belt" portion of the State. 

Analysis of Coal from "^." Seam of the Brierfleld^ Bihh 
County, Ala., hy J. L. Beeson. 

Moisture 2.265 

Volatile matter 57.130 

Fixed carbon.... 37.407J ^^^^ 40 g05 

Ash . . 3.198) 

100.000 

Sulphur in coal 1.158 

Sulphur left in coke.. .487 

Per cent, of sulphur in coke 1.198 



CHAPTER XII 



THE DAILEY CEEEK BASIN. 

The Dailey Creek basin is situated to the east and north- 
east of Blocton, to the west and northwest of Montevallo> 
and to the southwest of Helena, Gurnee being in the north 
end of this basin. It is bounded on the northwest by the 
"Interior fault" and the Blocton basin, also by a portion of 
the Gould basin ; on the north and northeast by Dry Creek 
basin and Lolley basin, on the east side by the Montevallo 
basin, and on the south side by the "Overturned Measures" 
and the "South boundary fault." 

The following is a description of the boundary of the 
Dailey Creek basin : Commencing at the gap in the Con- 
glomerate ridge where the Little Mayberry Creek cuts 
through it, at the fault where the flat measures and the 
"Overturned" measures come close together, thence north- 
westwardly along the anticlinal to the northwest corner of 
section 15, township 22, range 4 west, thence due north 
along the section lines on the west side of sections 10 and 
3, to the southwest corner of section 34, township 21, range 
4 west; thence northeast to the northeast corner of said 
section 34 ; thence northwestward down Jesse's Creek to 
the southwest corner of section 15, township 21, range 4 
west ; thence northwest to the southeast edge of the Interior 
fault vertical rocks near the northwest corner of section 16, 
township 21, range 4 west ; thence southwestward along the 
southeast edge of the Interior fault leaving Boothtown to 
your left ; thence close by Cadle Station, crossing the rail- 
road at this point, close by the Gardner old mine ; continu- 
ing close along the edge of the Interior fault to the edge of 
the coal field at a point about a quarter of a mile west of 
the southeast corner of section 17, township 24, range 10 
east ; thence eastward along the boundary fault ; after ad- 
vancing two hundred yards you will pass close by the left 



104 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

side of the Joseph Lightsey house ; continuiBg along the 
boundary fault, crossing Cahaba river about two hundred 
yards above the "boat landing" to the half mile post on the 
south side of section 15, township 24, range 10 east ; thence 
northeastwards to the middle of section 5, township 24, 
range 11 east ; thence eastwardly along the line of fault 
forming the north bourdary of the "Overturned measures" 
to the Little Mayberry Creek, at a point about 700 yards to 
the northwest of the old Shaft seam slope, this being where 
the rocks of the Montevallo basin and the Overturned meas- 
ures come together, the point of commencement. 

The Dai!ey Creek basin is drained by the Cahaba river 
and its tributaries : Jesse's Creek, Rocky Branch, Lick 
Creek, Savage Creek, Lovelady Branch, Glade Branch, Hud- 
gin's Creek, Swep Branch, Thrasher's Field Branch, Stone 
Coal Branch, Dailey Creek, Short Creek, Big Lick Creek, 
Beech Camp Branch, Pine Island Branch, Big Ugly Creek, 
Little Ugly Creek, Four Mile Creek, and Alligator Creek, 
the last two emptying into Little Cahaba River, all the 
others drain into the Big Cahaba river. 

The most prominent ridge in this basin is Pea ridge, and 
its continuation southwest, forming the "divide" between 
the waters of Little Cahaba river and the Cahaba river. 
This "divide" forms a broad, high ridge for a length of 
about nine miles in this basin; its full length is much more, 
as it continues northeast nearly to Lacey Station, at the 
head of Piney Woods Creek. Its full extent is from near 
Lacey Station to the forks of the Big Cahaba and Little 
Cahaba rivers. On the northwest side of this ridge the 
waters drain into Big Cahaba river, and on the southeast 
side the waters all drain into the Little Cahaba river. This 
ridge or "divide" has an altitude in places of 400 feet above 
the river. 

The next most prominent ridge is formed of the roof rock 
of the Gholson seam. The roofs of the Coke seam and the 
Thompson seam both form high ridges in portions of this 
basin. 

Of the wagon roads of this basin the principal one is the 
Montevallo and Tuscaloosa, or Booth's Ferry road ; this is 
a county road, on which vehicles can be used. Another 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : DAILEY CKEEK BASIN. 105 

wagon road leads from the Aldrich mines near Montevallo 
to Blocton, going by Berea cliurcb and crossing the river at 
Lily Shoals. Another wagon road leads from Berea church 
to Potts' Tan yard. Another wagon road leads from Peter's 
mines to the James Rich ford on Cahaba river. 

Two railroads enter this basin at its north end, the two 
uniting near Gurnee or between Gurnee Station and Piney 
Woods Station ; one of the railroads is the Birmingham 
Mineral Railroad, extending from the Louisville and Nash- 
ville Company's main line at Helena, to its junction with 
the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad, near 
Gurnee. The other road is the Brierfield, Blocton and 
Birmingham Railroad which extends from Birmingham 
Junction Station near Montevallo, to Gurnee and Blocton. 
These two railroads have been recently constructed and are 
both now completed and in running order. 

The Birmingham Mineral Railroad Company have a lease 
from the Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad 
Company, enabling them to run their trains clear through 
from Helena to Blocton. 

The Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad Com- 
pany are now building a railroad from Gurnee to Bessemer 
and Birmingham; the whole line being now constructed 
under contract let to Aldrich, Worthington & Co., railroad 
contractors. 

Two years ago, and prior to the construction of these 
railroads, the Dailey Creek basin did not have a population 
of more than an average of one family to the square mile, 
but since that, the Excelsior Coal Company have opened 
their two new slopes, and miners with their families have 
gone to live near the mines. The population has thus in- 
cceased to ten times what it was two years ago. 

The Dailey Creek Basin has a length of thirteen miles by 
an average width of three and two-tenths miles, and con- 
tains a surface area of forty-one and a half square miles ; 
it contains of good workable coal in seams of over two feet 
in thickness, and within forty-five hundred feet in vertical 
depth seven hundred and seventy-one millions of tons, 
(771,000,000— of 2000 lbs.) In computing this estimate of 
amount of coal in the basin I have made no allowance for 
loss in pillars, or waste in mining. 



106 GEOLOGICAL SURYEY OF ALABAMA. 

The lowest workable seam outcropping in this basin is 
the seam known as the "Big Vein." This seam is the 
Wadsworth of the South and North Alabama railroad. 
Near Boothtown it runs into the vertical measures of the 
"Interior Fault." Its thickness in the south end of the 
basin is eight feet in the aggregate ; a part of this, though, 
is impure and shaly, but probably four feet of good coal can 
be gotten out of it. 

The most workable seam is the "Clean Coal Seam," which 
is only two and a half feet in thickness. The next work- 
able seam above this is the "Beech Tree seam," of three 
feet in thickness of good coal ; the "Half Yard coal" comes 
in between the two last mentioned seams. A short distance 
above the Beech Tree seam is a thin seam of six inches ; 
this, with the "Clean Coal," "Half Yard" and "Beech Tree," 
forming a group of four seams between the Big Vein and 
Coke seam. Between this group and the Coke seam, is a 
thin seam that becomes sixteen inches thick in places. 
Then above this is the Coke seam. This seam near Dailey 
Creek, ranges from three to three and a half feet in thick- 
ness, and is a good coal, making an excellent coke. There 
are two thin seams a few inches thick above the Coke seam, 
but the next workable seam is the Clark seam, which, when 
discovered thirty years ago, was named the "Spring vein." 
The Clark varies in size from two and a half to four feet in 
thickness, and is of very good quality. Above the Clark, a 
varying distance of from ten to a hundred feet is the Ghol- 
son seam ; this is a remarkably good seam of solid coal, 
varying from four to five feet in thickness with a good sand- 
stone roof. From my remembrance of measurements made 
in the old Ghplson mine twenty-five years ago, when the 
mine was still open, the average thickness of the seam 
through the mine was five feet. When the Gurnee workings 
have advanced to flat part of the basin, the Excelsior 
company will have an excellent seam, with a good roof and 
an immense area of flat or level measures to work in. The 
following are measured sections of the Clark and Gholson 
seams ; 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : DAILEY CREEK BASEST. 107 

[Clark Seam in section 16, toionshrp ^1 S., range 4 W. Rale of dip 16°] 

l^S/7 f CO/}/fS£ s/i/\/o SJO/\/e 

I INCH CO flL 

7 irJct^es sLftTC 






Fi^i^: cL/i/ OFf BOTTOM sl/\TE 

[Gholson Seam in section 21, township 21 S. range 4 W. Rate of dip 1G°] 

^/^jt^/- goOD Co/\l 

^fjD B or Toy sl/iy-e: 

[Gholson Seam in section 12, township 22 S., range 5 W. Direction of 
Strike, N. 34° E. Direction of dip, 56° E. Rate of dip 9°] 

f^/lf^o S/^/Vo STOf^E 






5 FEE J" gooD co/^L 



eoTfoy sI/^-t£ 

The next seam of workable size is the Middle Vein, of 
two and a half feet in thickness. This is the "Little Pitts- 
burg Seam" of the South and North Alabama railroad. 
Above the "Middle Vein" are two thin seams, representing 
the "Quarry seam" and the "Smithshop seam" of the South 
and North Alabama railroad company. Above these is the 



108 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

Thompson or Conglomerate seam, varying in size in this 
basin, from three to six feet. A short distance above this 
seam is a ledge of conglomerate that is fifty feet thick in 
places, bat in other places, only a few feet. The next seam 
above this is the Helena ; this seam in this basin varies in 
size from one and a half to four feet, and in some places is 
divided up into tvs^o or three benches, with slates interven- 
ing. The next seam above this is the Yeshic seam ; a seam 
that is generally four to five feet in thickness ; its condition 
is mostly impure in this basin. The next workable .^eam 
above this is the Monte vallo seam of two and a half to four 
feet in thickness. For sections of this seam, see the chap- 
ters on the L'llley Basin and Montevallo Basin. This seam 
has about the best reputation for a good domestic coal, of 
any in the State. The outcrop of it can be seen beneath a 
ledge of conglomerate on a branch, a few hundred yards 
south of Antioch Church ; the branch empties into Savage 
creek. The four thin seams above the Montevallo seam are 
the "Air Shaft seam," "Black Fireclay seam," "Stine seam," 
and the "Luke seam ;" none of them are workable, and they 
vary so m thickness and amount of impurities, that they 
are not worth the reader's attention, though a section of 
the "Black Fireclay seam" can be found in the chapter de- 
scribing the Lolley Basin. 

The measures of the north end of the Dailey Creek Basin, 
dip towards, and are connected with the Lolley and the 
Montevallo Basins. The largest and most important of the 
seams of the Lolley and Montevallo Basins can be worked 
by slopes driven down from their outcrops in the Dailey 
Creek Basin. The anticlinal between the Lolley and Mon- 
tevallo Basins appears to be pointing in the direction of 
Jesse's Creek ; the lower rate of dip than usual in the lower 
part of Jesse's Creek is probably due to the said anticlinal. 

For relative position of the seams of this basin, see the 
Dailey Creek Vertical Section, and the Blocton and Monte- 
vallo Horizontal Section from "M." to "N." on the accompany- 
ing map. 

The rate of dip of the measures in this basin, varies from 
forty-five degrees at the Big Vein, to ten or fifteen at the 
Gholson seam, down to one or two degrees or flat, at the 



OAHABA COAL FIELD : DAILEY CREEK BASIN. 109 

synclinal east of Berea Church ; most of the southeast side 
of the basin is fiat or nearly flat. 

The first mining done in this basin was during the war 
between the States, by refugees from Mississippi and else- 
where. They were Brooks and Gainer, mining close to 
where Gurnee now is. Kogers ; Carter ; Gholson & Co. ; 
Herndon, and Thompson. They hauled their coal in wagons 
to the nearest point on the Selma, Rome and Dalton Rail- 
road. The coal was used by the Confederate Government 
at the arsenal at Selma. The seams worked by them were 
the Clark seam, the Gholson seam and the Thompson seam. 
These three seams were all they mined in this basin ; their 
method of mining was by "drift," and horse power slopes ; 
none of them used steam power in any shape. The dis- 
tance from their mines to the railroad was by the wagon 
road about twelve miles, and with a team of four mules and 
wagon, they hauled a ton per day to the railroad per each 
team ; this was counted a day's hauling. 

None of them advanced their mine workings very far 
from the outcrop, their principal work being hauling the 
coal and keeping their long wagon roads in hauling con- 
dition. 

All of these mines stopped when the war ended ; the 
refugees then, with one or two exceptions, went back to 
their former homes. Since that time the mines have been 
abandoned and grown up with briars, till about January, 
1889. From this date railroads have been built, connecting 
this region with Montevallo and Selma, Blocton, Bessemer 
and Birmingham, and with Helena, Montgomery and the 
Gulf, and, by means of the steam colliers now running from 
Pensacola, with Havana and all the coal markets in the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

The contrast between the appliances and methods of min- 
ing used in the basin twenty-five years ago, and those used 
at present, is very great. 

Since January, 1889, the Excelsior Coal Company have 
sunk two large slopes on the Gholson seam ; one of them, 
No. 1, or Gurnee Slope, is now down eight hundred feet ; 
these slopes, if continued on in the direction they are now 
being driven, will penetrate an immense region of flat, or 



110 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

nearly level seams, sufficient to furnish continuous work for 
several generations of miners. 

Analysis of coal from the Gholson Seam, Slope No, 1, Gurnee, 
Alabama, by J. L. Beeson. 

Moisture 1.589 

Volatile matter 35 760 

Fixed Carbon 58.871J, ^^^^ g^ T.51. 

Ash ... J.780J 

100.000 

Sulphur in coal 1.547 

Sulphur left in coke 781 

Percentage of sulphur in coke 1.249 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE BLOCTON BASIN. 

The Blocton basin is situated to the south and southwest 
of Bessemer, to the southeast of Woodstock and Vance's, 
to the north of Centreville, to the west of Aldrich and 
Montevallo, and to the southwest of Gurnee, Blocton oc- 
cupying the middle portion of the basin. 

This basin is bounded on the north by the Gould basin, 
on the northwest by the Sub-Carboniferous measures, at the 
visible portion of the southwest end it is bounded by a 
large deposit of "Drift measures" overlying and completely 
hiding the Carboniferous from sight, on the south it is 
bounded by the great boundary fault, and on the southeast 
side it is bounded by the Interior fault vertical coal meas- 
ures, beyond which is the Dailey Creek basin. 

The following is a description of the boundary of the 
Blocton basin : Commencing at the northwest edge of the 
Interior fault opposite Booth's Ferry in the south half of 
section 19, township 21, range 4 west; thence northwest 
along the Booth's Ferry and Tannehill wagon road, to the 
sharp bend in Sand Mountain in the south half of section 
3, township 21, range 5 west ; thence northwest along the 
base of the Millstone Grit nearly one mile, to where Sand 
Mountain makes another sharp turn ; thence southwestward 
along the base of the Millstone Grit of Sand Mountain; 
the red fossiliferous ore cropping out about half a mile to 
the right. Then crossing the Cahaba Coal Mining Com- 
pany's Railroad at "Thrasher's Mill," on the township line, 
between townships 21 and 22, and continuing along the base 
of the Millstone Grit, crossing Hill's Creek about three- 
quarters of a mile northwest of Randolph's Mill, and cross- 
ing Schultz's Creek at Burt's Mill ; thence along the base 
of the Millstone Grit to the half mile post on the south side 
of section 22, township 24, range 8 east. To the southwest 



112 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

of this the Carboniferous is completely covered with drift. 
Thence southeast to the half mile post on the west side of 
section 6, township 23, range 9 east ; thence northeastwards 
along the boundary fault, crossing Schultz's Creek about a 
quarter of a mile north of the wagon road bridge ; passing 
Schultz's Creek church about 700 yards to the north of it, 
and continuing on along the boundary fault to a point two 
hundred yards west of Joseph Lightsey's house in the 
northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 20, 
township 24, range 10 east; thence northeastwards along 
the northwest side of the vertical measures of the "Interior 
fault," crossing the railroad about half a mile southwest of 
Cadle Station, and crossing the Cahaba river near the half 
mile post at the south side of section 2, township 22, range 
5 west ; continuing northeastwards along the northwest edge 
of the Interior fault vertical measures to opposite Booth's 
Ferry, in the south half of section 19, township 21, range 4 
west, the point of commencement. 

The Blocton basin is drained by the Cahaba river and its 
tributaries, Shades Creek, Cane Creek, Little Cane Creek, 
Bear Branch, Big Ugly Creek, Little Ugly Creek, Caffey's 
Creek, Turkeycock Branch, Lick Branch, Green Branch, 
Pratt's Creek, Stone Quarry Branch, Hill's Creek, Schultz's 
Creek, and Haysop Creek, the waters of all these creeks 
and branches finally reach Cahaba river. It is along the 
valley of one of these creeks (Cafifey's Creek) that the 
Cahaba Coal Mining Company built their railroad, enabling 
them to open up their mines in this basin; this was the 
easiest route by which they coald get railroad access to the 
seams in this basin, though the engineering difficulties of 
the route brought the cost of their nine miles of railroad 
up to over $160,000. 

The most prominent ridges of this basin are Sand Moun- 
tain, formed of the lower portion of the Millstone Grit, ex- 
tending all along the northwest side of the basin, though it 
is a little broken at its southwest end. The next ridge in 
prominence is the ridge formed of the roof rock of the 
Underwood or Thompson seam. 

This basin, like all other parts of the Cahaba Coal Field, 
is not well provided with good wagon roads. The principal 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : BLOCTON BASIN. 113 

ones in the basin are the Woodstock and Biocton road, the 
Blocton and Pratt's Ferry road, (this is what the settlers 
designate as the new cut,) the Blocton and Centreville road, 
the Blocton and Gurnee road, the Woodstock and Centre- 
ville ri)ad, the Tuscaloosa and Pratt's Ferry road. Booth- 
town and Greenpond road, Blocton and Shades Creek 
church or Helena road, and the Scottsville and River Bend 
road. 

The railroads in this basin are the Cahaba Coal Mining 
Company's Railroad, connecting their Blocton mines with 
the Alabama Great Southern Railroad at Woodstock, and 
with the Blue Creek extension of the Birmingham Mineral 
Railroad at the Blocton Junction depot near Woodstock. 

There is another railroad recently completed that enters 
the basin from the east side, coming from Montevallo to 
Gurnee, and from Gurnee to Blocton, constructed by the 
Brierfield, Blocton and Birmingham Railroad Company 
over the Gurnee and Blocton portion of which the Birm- 
ingham Mineral Company have a lease or right to run their 
trains to Blocton, from their Helena and Gurnee branch. 

This gives the Blocton basin connection with the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad, the Birmingham Mineral system, 
and Louisville and Nashville Company's main line, and the 
East Tennessee, Yirginirt and Georgia main line by means 
of the Selma, Rome and Dalton Division, which are three 
of the most important mineral railroads in the State. 

The Blocton basin is eighteen miles in length by an aver- 
age width of five and a quarter miles. Its surface area is 
ninety-four and a half square miles, and it contains, in 
seams of workable coal of two feet and upwards in thick- 
ness, and within 3,800 feet of vertical depth, 567,000,000 of 
tons (2,000 pounds.) I have made no allowance in this 
computation for loss in pillars or waste in mining. 

The western edge of the basin is disturbed by three nar- 
row faults or fractures of the measures ; they do not make 
much showing on the surface, but they cause the measures 
in their vicinity to be irregular, and will not be considered 
worth working while there is such a vast area of almost 
level or flat measures in the basin proper, to the east of 
them, and containing the same seams. 
8 



114 



GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF ALABAMA. 



The Gould seam outcrops in these disturbed measures^ 
but the lowest workable seam outcropping in the regular or 
flat portion of the basin, is the "Wadsworth, which shows 
two feet nine inches at the surface outcrop and will prob- 
ably prove to be three feet of good coal at some distance 
underground; the next working seam above this is the 
Beechtree seam. This seam, a few miles to the east near 
Dailey Creek, is three feet in thickness and of good qual- 
ity. The next workable seam above this is the Coke seam, 
this one also near Dailey Creek, is three feet in thickness 
of good coal, with a good roof and has excellent coking 
qualities. The next workable seam above this is the Wood- 
stock or Gholson seam ; in this basin it averages from three 
to three and a half feet of solid coal of good quality for 
coke making, and locomotive or domestic purposes ; it has 
a good roof, and around Blocton there is a large area of it 
nearly level. The next workable seam in this basin above 
the Woodstock is the Underwood or Thompson seam ; this 
seam contains a solid bench of five and a half feet of good 
quality well suited to coking, steam, or domestic purposes^ 
The following is a section of it: 

[Thompson seam, in section 21, township 22, S., range 5, TF.]; 



ssssssssssssssss 



S/lfVOS^O/V£ 
Sl/tJ-E 




^ // ffJcf/£S bo/Jy sLflTS 

10 //■/€//£ S SMUT 



■5/^E€T QOOD COflL 



^ fjf\£ cLftV 
The Helena seam is the next workable seam above the 



CAHABA COAL FIELD : BLOCTON BASIN. 115 

Thompson; it shows only two feet in thickness at the out- 
crop on the hill above the No. 2 slope in this basin. It 
may be larger in other parts of the basin, though the evi- 
dence elsewhere testifies to its gradually reducing in size 
towards the southwest end of the Cahaba Coal Field. In 
places through the field it is liable to be divided up into 
two or three benches, with slate intervening ; in the Eureka 
basin it is solid. 

For relative position of the seams in this basin, see the 
Blocton Vertical Section, the General Vertical Section, and the 
Blocton and Ilontevallo Horizontal Section, on the accompany- 
ing map : 

The following two analyses of the coal of the Woodstock 
seam, were made by Porter & Going, Cincinnati, Ohio : 

Sample Sample 

No. 1. No. 4. 

Moisture 1.45 1.40 

Volatile 32.21 34.05 

Fixedcarbon 61.83 60.30 

Sulphur 1.10 114 

Ash 3 41 3.11 

100.00 100 00 

The following two analyses of the coal of the Underwood 
seam were also made by Porter & Going, Cincinnati, Ohio : 

Sample Sample 

No. 2. No. 3. 

Moisture 1.70 1.50 

Volatile 32 21 30.95 

Fixedcarbon 60.02 61.72 

Sulphur 82 1.13 

Ash 5.25 4.70 

100.00 100.00 

The following analysis of the coke from th? Underwood 
coal was made by Alfred Gaither, Chemist, Philadelphia, 
Pa.: 

Volatile 4.508 

Fixed carbon 87 . 607 

Sulphur 745 

Ash 7 . 140 

100.000 
The following analysis of the coke from the Woodstock 



116 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

and Underwood coals mixed, was made bv chemist of the 
Talladega Iron and Steel Company : 

Moisture 700 

Volatile 925 

Fixed Carbon b8 358 

Sulphur 1.217 

Ash 8 hOO 

100 000 
The following analysis of the coke from the Woodstock 
and Underwood coals mixed, was made by John Fulton, 
General Manager of the Cambrian Iron Company, Johns- 
town, Pa., from samples taken from twenty-four ovens : 

Moisture 08 

Volatile 1.11 

Fixed carbon liO.48 

Sulphur 83 

Ash 7 50 

100 00 

The disturbed measures next to the northwest edge of the 
Blocton basin have a varying rate of dip of from six degrees 
to sixty degrees. The main part of the basin is nearly flat, 
the rate of dip varying from one degree up to fifteen de- 
grees. The synclinal of this basin is wide and flat, and ex- 
tends from the northeast end to the southwest end. 

Around the Cahaba Coal Mining Company's mines the 
synclinal becomes divided by an anticlinal that shows itself 
between No. 1 and No. 2 mines, into two synclinals, extend- 
ing for several miles in both directions. These synclinals 
are wide and almost flat, and embrace a large territory of 
nearly level measures. The inclination or fall of the syn- 
clinal line, of this basin, is from the northeast end to the 
southwest end. The base of the Millstone Grit, measured 
from a given datum line, has a lower altitude at the south 
end of both the Cahaba and Warrior Coal Fields, and a 
higher altitude at the north end of both Coal Fields than at 
any other point ; consequently the large Montevallo Con- 
glomerate, the cap rock of our Alabama Coal Measures, is 
visible at the surface at the south end of both coal fields, 
which can be seen at the shoals in the Warrior River be- 
tween Tuscaloosa and Northport, and in the Montevallo 



C AH ABA COAL FIELD : BLOCTON BASIN. 117 

Basin over the "Aldrich Slope," The base of the Millstone 
Grit showing itself in the tops of the mountains where the 
measures have a very light dip, at the north end of both 
coal fields, more especially the Wearior. 

Prior to 1884, there had been no mining done in this 
basin ; in that year, the Cahaba Coal Mining Company first 
began to sink their Slopes and construct their nine miles of 
railroad from Woodstock, on the Alabama Great Southern, 
to their mines ; though they have now in this basin nearly 
twenty miles of railroad of main line, branches, and sidings ; 
they have increased their mine openings until they now 
have ten mines opened up in this basin, mostly slopes, the 
others are vertical shafts and drifts , their output has in- 
creased at about the same speed as the Pratt Mines, did in 
the same space of time after first commencing. 

This company have some 450 coke ovens of the bee-hive 
pattern, well constructed, and with the latest improvements. 
They are intended to supply the furnaces at Anniston with 
coke. The coke is of excellent quality. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



ON MINING. 



In our methods of mining the coal seams of Alabama, 
where the rate of dip is less than ten degrees, we have 
adopted for the past thirty or forty years, the cars and sys- 
tem very generally used along the Monongahela River, Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, and for seams having a rate of dip of 
from twenty-five to sixty degrees, we have adopted the meth- 
ods generally used at the Anthracite Mines in Pennsylvania. 
For distinction we will name the first one the "Mononga- 
hela Method," and the other the "Anthracite Method," and 
for the rates of dip above mentioned, they are the best 
methods known, but they do not work well in seams having 
a rate of dip between ten and twenty-five degrees. 

In seams having a rate of dip from forty to sixty degrees, 
it has been our custom to drive the rooms square off from 
the gangway, up the "rise" of the seam, and have the coal 
to run down the shute into the tram at the bottom of it; 
with this rate of dip the shute does not require planking at 
the side or bottom to make the coal run, and by keeping the 
shute full, except three or four feet working room at the 
"breast of the room," there is very little coal lost by pul- 
verizing in its descent down the shute, as by that method 
it descends by slow settling in proportion as it is allowed 
to run into the trams at the bottom; this method miners 
designate as "working it on the run." 

In seams of from thirty to forty degrees rate of dip, the 
miners are compelled to plank the sides of the shute to 
some extent, in order to enable the coal to slide down with- 
out assistance. In seams of from twenty-five to thirty de- 
grees the coal will not descend in the shute unless the sides 
of the shute are partly planked, and the bottom covered 
with sheet iron. In working our seams, having a rate of 
dip of ten degrees or under, with the Monongahela ton car 
we are compelled to drive our rooms diagonally to the di- 



MINING. 119 

rection of the gangway, unless the rate of dip is less than 
four degrees, in that case the rooms may be driven "square 
up the pitch." For seams of from sixty to twenty-five de- 
grees and from ten degrees to flat or level, the Anthracite 
and Monongahela methods suit very well, but for seams 
having a rate of dip of from ten to twenty-five degrees, they 
■entail an additional expense in getting the coal to the gang- 
way ready for hoisting; for convenience we shall name this 
rate of dip the "medium dip." 

It has been hitherto our practice to adopt the "Mononga- 
hela Method" with ton trams, where the rate of dip is from 
ten to seventeen degrees, driving the rooms diagonally from 
the gangway, and have the miners bring their loaded cars 
down to the gangway, go back empty handed and have the 
trammer to take the empty cars up to the room breast by 
mule power; or else have the miner to go through the heavy 
strain of pushing the empty car up by hand. The mule 
power method, though necessitating two journeys along the 
room road, to accomplish the output of one car of coal, is 
the most satisfactory to the miner and most economical to 
the mine proprietor; iu making a fair count of the cost of 
each method, the man power is certain to cost the most. 
In mining thin seams, small light cars are often used, that 
can be pushed up the room by man power with less strain 
to the miner than when using the one ton car. I have often 
used this method myself, and in all probability the Monte- 
vallo Coal & Transportation Co., are now using it, still it is 
glaringly evident, that man power applied to its utmost 
strength, is the costliest method of moving coal from the 
"room breast" to daylight. 

In mining seams of from seventeen to twenty-five de- 
grees rate of dip, it has generally been our practice to adopt 
the "Anthracite Method," and either plank the bottom and 
lower part of the sides of the "shute," or plank and sheet 
iron the bottom. In this case, even with these aids, the 
coal will not run of its own accord, consequently it requires 
to be pushed down the length of the shute by the miner or 
the assistant trammer. When the room is worked up a con- 
siderable distance from the gangway, this becomes a costly 
method of moving the coal from the "room breast" to day- 



120 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

light. I have given considerable attention in the past thirty 
years, to the difficulties encountered in conveying the 
" medium dip" coal from the "room breast" to daylight; 
twice in this period I have tried to solve the problem, by 
devoting several months to the examination of the meth- 
ods used in the "medium dip" seams of England, Scotland, 
and Wales. I also made a further effort on the Continent, 
but my knowledge of German and French was so limited, 
as to prevent my discussing the matter satisfactorily with 
^he managers in charge of the works. As the result of 
these efforts I have been brought to suggest and recommend 
some (at least to me), new methods, though not an entire 
"cut and dried" solution of this problem, ready to apply to 
our Cahaba seams. 

The trams or mine cars used in Europe are, in nearly 
every case, smaller than ours; the reason for making them 
so, in most cases, is an effort to reduce the enormous first 
cost of their deep shafts, by having a small shaft area, thus 
leaving but a small space for their mine cars or cages and 
pumpway; their small mine cars also suit the large number 
of boys they have employed in their mines. It would be 
bad policy for us to adopt their small cars in the Cahaba 
Field, as we have no very deep pits to sink, and our per- 
centage of boys employed is very much smaller than theirs, 
also our miners are accustomed to handling one ton cars, or 
cars having a capacity approaching a ton. I have also ex- 
amined the methods of mining the "medium dip" in other 
places where opportunity offered, finally arriving at the 
conclusion that our best policy is Uj hold on to our one 
ton cars, and work the "medium dip" seams horizontally. 

The most improved method of tramming and removing 
the "medium dip" coal, that has come under my observation, 
is that mostly used in the county of Lancashire, England. 
The diagram opposite is the ground plan showing endless 
wire rope haulage, and section of it, and I shall designate it 
as the ''Lancashire Method." 

It must be borne in mind, however, that in that county 
the system of "underground wire rope haulage" is in almost 
universal use. This "Lancashire method," is an application 
of the "endless wire rope haulage"; the slope is double 



MINING. 121 

tracked, the endless rope ascending up the middle of one 
track and going down the middle of the other. The room 
roads connecting with the slope on each side, are opposite 
each other; and in both tracks there are level spaces oppo- 
site the room entrances, to facilitate the pushing the mine 
car under the rope towards or from either track. 

The method of hitching the mine car to the wire rope is 
by means of two chains (one at each end of the car) re- 
sembling our trace chains, only with shorter links is the 
hitch to the rope is made in the same time (about one 
second), that the other end of the chain is hooked to the end 
of the mine car. In hitching to the wire rope they give the 
end of the chain a sharp swing around the rope, and after 
the hook has made two rounds, th'^y catch the hook with 
the other hand and put it over the chain. When 
the slope is made down the "dip," then full cars are 
hitched to the ascending rope, but when the slope is made 
up the rise of the coal, then the full cars are hitched to the 
descending rope. The system is used for lowering loaded 
cars to a lower gangway, and for hoisting them to a higher 
gangway, and it works well at either, and by this method in 
circumstances that suit it, coal can be conveyed a given dis- 
tance underground at less cost than by any other appliance. 
The Laiicashire method just suits their mine cars ; their 
endless ropes have a continuoas steady motion of 1 1-4 to 
2 1-2 miles an hour without stopping the whole day ; every 
miner is trained and able to push his car under the rope, 
and have it under way, without interfering with the car 
following after it. 

Our cars are so much heavier than theirs that it would 
probably be impossible for one man to push them under the 
rope and hitch them quickly enough to keep them out of 
the way of the following cars. I am uncertain about the 
possibility of using the above described method with one 
of our one ton cars, so shall leave it to time, or some of our 
enterprising mine operators to decide its feasibility with 
the mine cars are now in use here. 

An ither system of mining the "medium dip" seams, or, 
more correctly, a combination of different and various 
methods now in successful operation in many old established 



122 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

mining districts, is, in my judgment, superior to any other 
method for seams having a dip of from 10 to 25 degrees 
from the horizontal : it is the best suited to our seams, our 
mine cars, to our miners, and to our "pillar and room" 
habits of working ; and, as it is a combination of methods 
partly used in one, and partly in other districts, we shall 
designate it as the " Combination method." 

In this method, the system of conducting the underground 
workings is, to have but one single track slope driven in the 
direction of the dip. This we will name the drainage 
slope ; the pumps being in a narrow air-way at one side of 
it. By this slope all the coal within its jurisdiction or 
territory will be drained, and it will also be the medium 
through which the coal and slate of the adjoining gangway 
end hoisting slope must be brought to the surface. All 
work in this system will be driven either horizontally or 
directly up the rise of the coal, (excepting the draining 
slope.) 

The diagram opposite gives an outline of this system of 
working. 

A pump and air-way is driven up at one side of the 
drainage slope, and hoisting slopes are driven up at suitable 
distances on each side of the drainage slope. In order to 
avoid the expense connected with long underground haulage, 
the rooms are all driven horizontally or nearly so, the grade 
of the room tracks must be laid to the proper inclination, 
by means of a tapering grade stick, with glass level im- 
bedded in plaster of Paris, and adjusted to a three-eights 
grade (or 3-8ths of an inch to the hundred inches), or to 
such grade as the size and style of wheel used in mine cars 
may require. 

The drainage slope will require coal pillars large enough 
for its permanent security. With this method a room can 
be advanced 150 yards with no more outlay of strength and 
muscle to deliver the coal a-.d secure an empty car, than 
will be required to advance a room 150 feM diagonally up 
our "medium dip" seams, or in other words the miner can 
push his full car out, and return with the empty 150 yards, 
at less cost and exertion, than would be expended in the 
same work through 150 feet in the diagonally driven room 
up the pitch of our medium dip seams. 



MINING. 123 

The grade stick can be so adjusted that the same muscular 
strength will be rexuired to push the full car down, as to 
push the empty car up, the only trouble being to put the 
grade stick on the track when laying it, and support or 
lower the ties until the bubble sets right. On the diagram 
the distance.^ between the hoisting slopes are spaced in 
pannels of 900 feet, but that distance can be lengthened or 
shortened to suit the locality and the seam. Tie method 
of working "medium dip" seams, has less amount of narrow 
work to a given acreage of coal than any other method yet 
made known, excepting the "long wall" method, and before 
we can adopt the latter, we must reduce the size of our 
cars, and train and discipline our miners to work under a 
"sagging" roof, and if the "long wall" is the "withdrawing" 
kind, we must lay tracks along the "face or breast." The 
hoisting power at the top of each hoisting slope, can be 
either steam or electric motor connected with a central 
dynamo. If steam is used, the water would probably have 
to be piped from the drainage slope. 

The long underground haulage is one of the chief draw- 
backs to our "medium dip" seam mining; in some districts 
the usual way to curtail that expense is to establish the un- 
derground wire rope haulage system. In the "combination 
method" the car bodies are strongly made wooden boxes 
of rectangular shape, of one ton capacity. These are de- 
tachable from the trams or trucks. In the rooms, the trams 
consist of a flat platform resting on the trucks, and of a size 
sufficient to hold a single car body. In the hoisting slope, 
the "hoisting" or "slope" tram consists of a long iron 
frame work on trucks, on which are constructed four steps 
or scaffolds, so arranged with reference to the slope of the 
track, as to have the floors of these platforms level at the 
steepest part of the slope. On each of these platforms 
is placed one of the detachable car bodies above referred to. 
The Diagram following p. 124 shows the construction of the 
"slope tram" with a car body resting on each of the four 
platforms, with ground plan of slope and room roads; also 
longitudinal cross sections of slope, showing hoisting tram. 

The miner takes the empty mine car body from the "slope 
tram" and replaces it with a loaded or full one, signals to 



124 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

the engineman to hoist away, and goes back to his room 
with the empty car to get another car load, thus requiring 
only one trip to deliver a one ton car of coal. The "emp- 
ties" are taken from the "slope tram," and the full car 
bodies placed upon the same, by means of an iron post 
crane placed at the angle of the room road. At this point 
the slope pillar, instead of coming out to an angle, is cut 
away sufficiently to give space called a "siding" (but which has 
no side track), for the empty car to be swung from the slope 
tram and held suspended out of the way, while the full car 
body is being placed upon the slope tram, after which the 
empty is swung still further around and lowered upon the 
platform of^the room truck, from which the loaded car has 
just been removed. This necessitates at each room entrance, 
two cranes (upon a swivel post). The crane for the empty 
car body being of a lighter construction and placed on the 
upper side of the post; that for the loaded car, heavier and 
on the lower, or room entrance side. [See Diagrams, one 
opposite, and two followiug p. 126.] From the end of each of 
the cranes there is suspended by a swivel joint in the centre, 
a light beam of the length of a car body. This beam has a 
small pulley at each end, over which passes a wire cord 
terminating in a hook and fastened at the other end to run- 
ning nuts on a double screw, actuated by a crank, on the 
same principle as the screws of the log carriage of a circu- 
lar saw. This arrangement is for raising and lowering the 
car bodies. The screw for the "empties" is coarser, giving a 
a more rapid lift, than that for the loaded cars. The second 
diagram opposite p. 126, shows the arrangement of the screw 
threads and crank for raising the mine car body from the room 
tram or from the slope tram. A catch lever is arranged at 
the side of the slope track opposite the room road, to ena- 
ble the miner to stop the "slope tram" at either one of the 
four platforms or scaffolds on which the mine cars rest in 
their transit up or down the slope. The mine car body is 
raised up from the tram truck, or up from the "slope tram" 
by means of a screw, which the miner turns by a crank as 
above described; the screw, when rotated, pulling a light 
wire cord above described sufficient to raise the car body a 
few inches, by a few turns of the crank; the crane is then 



MINING. 125 

swung around and the mine car body let down by means of 
the same screw either on to the room tram or on the "slope 
tram." 

In this method the engineman alone takes the place of all 
the trammers who, in other methods, are employed in bring- 
ing coal from the rooms or "breasts." In this method of 
minintr the "medium dip" coal, there is a less amount of 
narrow work in the form of gangways and air courses, than 
in any of the usual methods; there is a much lighter force 
of trammers needed, and especially there no coal rakers, 
killing time in the shutes, in their dallying efforts to get the 
coal down the shutes to the gangway. 

If the Pit Head Frame and loading shute and screws are 
properly arranged, the "medium dip" coal can be mined by 
this method at a very little if at all higher cost than the 
coal of the Hat seams. The preceding diagram shows a sec- 
tion along the hoisting slope, giving an outline of the "slope 
tram," with form of the platforms or scaffolds for holding 
the mine car bodies; also a ground plan of the hoisting 
slope with its connecting room roads, and sidings for empty 
mine cars; also the position of the iron post cranes for re- 
ceiving and delivering the mine cars. 

The first duty of the miner on arriving at the slope from 
his room with his full mine car, is to signal to the engine- 
man by means of the annunciator, that his number requires 
the "tram slope" with empty car, and is ready to deliver a 
full car; the engineman's duty, after acknowledging receipt 
of this order, is to signal back to the number at which he 
intends to stop his "slope tram," that he is going to stop 
at that point. As the slope tram nears this place the en- 
gineman causes it to move slowly in order to give the miner 
the opportunity of seeing which platform of the tram holds 
an empty car body, and of stopping it, by throwing up his 
catch lever, so as to bring this platform and empty car body 
exactly opposite his room track. He then removes the 
empty, and puts on the full car body and signals to the en- 
gineman to hoist away. He then swings the empty car 
around upon the room tram, pushes it back to the breast to 
be loaded again. The signals between the miner and the 
engineman must be the "electric," each miner having a wire 



126 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

to himself, with an electric light at each crane during work- 
ing hours. The ends of the room tracks must be curved up 
so as to prevent the mine car from ever running into the 
slope. The first diagram opposite shows a section along 
the slope, and across the room entrances and the entrance 
to two rooms. 

In this method the amount of work necessary to fit up 
the post crane and make the siding, is not half that required 
to open a room and put in a switch in the ordinary level 
gangwa3\ To fit up the post crane, all that is required is 
to dig a hole in the roof sufficiently deep to hold the head 
of the post and prevent its slipping, then dig another hole 
exactly under that one (by a plumb line), in the bottom 
slate, put in place the post which is of iron and in two parts 
fitting one into the other by a screw, and turn it after the 
manner of a jackscrew, until it presses sufficiently against 
roof and floor to prevent its moving. The remainder of the 
work consists in digging off the corner of the slope pillar 
sufficiently to make room for the empty car to stay out of 
the way of both slope track and room track. 

The scaffold in the siding is not absolutely necessary, but 
a light one there would enable the miner to have an extra 
empty car. The end of the mine car body must have two 
hitching or hooking places, one at its top edge of the car for 
the miners use, the other about the middle of the end of the 
car for the top or bankman to hook to for dumping the coal 
on the screen. This method has the great advantage of 
allowing the mine car wheels to be fastened to the axle in 
both slope tram and mine cars. There are no curves to go 
around, therefore no slip of wheels; mine cars with wheels 
fastened to the axle, the axle itself rotating, will last proba- 
bly twice as long as those that are loose and have the axle 
bolted to the bottom of the cars ; they also run much lighter 
and keep the proper gauge much longer. The second dia- 
gram opposite, giving a section along the room roads and 
across the hoisting slope, shows the arrangement of the 
screw threads and crank for raising the mine car body from 
the tram truck or from slope tram. 

In this method the Engineman must have in front of him 
(with the end towards him, and its lower edge about eight 




r>i H Co 
h o ^ 

^ ^ r^ 
■i O .^ ^ 

^S ^ 

o 



MINING. 127 

feet above the floor), a cast drum with large thread or spi- 
ral cast on it, with the numbers of the different rooms in 
large figures painted on the spiral, so that the pointer will 
show him the exact place to a few inches, where his 
''slope tram " is, in order that he may run slowly when ap- 
proaching the entrance to a room where he is to stop for a 
loaded car to be added ; this cast drum must have a geared 
connection with the hoisting-drum shaft. The Engineman 
must also have the number of the rooms close to his hands, 
so that he can arrange them in the order in which the calls 
from below are made, and remove them as the orders are 
filled. The collection of wires extending from the Engine- 
man to the entrance of each room, must be bundled or 
twisted together and wrapped with thin sheet lead or tarred 
cloth, to prevent corrosion from exposure to dampness. In 
this method the wire rope has no sharp corners or small 
pulleys to drag around, and will consequently escape the 
breaking and tearing of wire strands so common where the 
ordinary hoisting rope drags the mine cars out of the gang- 
ways. 

To facilitate the quick delivery of the loaded cars at the 
top of the slope, the upper part of the slope track, (that 
portion next the large rope sheave), must be double tracked 
and be movable, so that the full cars when they arrive there, 
can be pushed to one side, the same motion bringing the 
track with slope tram containing the empties in line with 
the slope, so that the engineman is not delayed, but can let 
down the emptv cars while the top men are emptying the 
full ones. Three tracks of wide guage are requisite for the 
screening and loading shute, one for "lump" or "run of the 
mine," one for "nut and slack," and one for slate. 

If this method, with the necessary machinery, were in com- 
mon use, it is probable that it would be used for "medium 
dips," of even from five to thirty degrees. In cases where 
the dip of the seam is irregular, and becomes too flat to 
allow the "slope tram" to descend and overcome the drag 
of the rope, a light tail rope would have to be used. In 
this method the "long wall system" could be used to some 
extent, but considering that we use a ton tram mostly, and 
a kind of room track, different from that usually employed 



128 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMaV. 

in long wall mining?, and that our miners are mostly accus- 
tomed to the '"pillar and room" system, it is probably best 
to adopt it only where the roof is good, the floor not too 
soft and apt to "swell up," and where there is abundance 
of hard gob material to give some support to the roof. In 
Warwickshire, England, they mine their medium dip coal 
(from fifteen to twenty degrees), by the "long wall drawing 
method; a full description of which is given by William S 
Gresley in the Engineering and Mining Journal of August 
17th, 1889, and I have no doubt but that it is the most im- 
proved method of mining the medium dip seams now in 
use in Warwickshire, and that it suits their condition of 
mining matters, is very evident. In the first place, they 
have to go to their boundary to commence the withdrawal 
of the coal, while in our case, most of our mine proprietors 
know that even their grandchildren will never extend their 
underground workings to their boundaries; in the second 
place, their small square sided mine cars can be taken be- 
tween the props and the face of the coal, much more readily 
than our cars of the Monongahela pattern; in the third 
place their room tracks have a sawed flat tie, of one and a 
quarter inch thickness, with the ends of the rails locking 
into one another, and with holes in the ties that keep their 
rails in guage, so that they can move their tracks along the 
breast, while we are knocking out the wedges, or drawing 
the spikes of ours. 

While in Europe, some ten years ago, the underground 
system of wire rope haulage received my attention, and I 
devoted several months to a thorough examiiiation of the 
various methods of using it, and found its greatest develop- 
ment in the Wigan district of Lancashire, England. It was 
no new experiment to them, as several of the mine superin- 
tendents informed me that they had abandoned the use of 
pony or mule and trammer, twenty years previous to the 
time of my examination, or now a generation ago. The 
proprietors and managers showed me ropes that they were 
using then, that they had been using constantly under- 
ground the thirteen years prior to that, the rope still good. 

Their underground haulage ropes are made of steel wire, 
with a hemp core. In one pit that had a regular output of 



MINING. 129 

800 tons per day, they had but one mule or pony in the pit 
at any time, and it was in charge solely of the repair man, 
t,o haul about their props and repair material. The mine 
proprietors informed me that, if they were to fall back to 
the old style of pony (or mule) and trammer to haul their 
coal to the pit bottom, that it would ruin their business, 
for they could not compete in that case with their neighbors 
using the underground wire rope haulage. 

They had passed the experimental stage long ago, knew 
at a glance the kind of pulley or sheave, in their great 
variety, that was essential to enable the rope to work well 
in the thousand and one difficult localities of their gang- 
ways and slopes. They have a large number of variously 
shaped pulleys, and modify their methods of using their 
wire ropes to suit the varying circumstances that surround 
them. They have two methods of conveying the power 
down their pits to their systems of wire rope haulage : the 
one in most general use is compressed air from air com- 
pressors at the top, to compressed air engines near the 
bottom of the pit; the other method is to have a steam 
engine at the pit top, geared as to give a slow motion to a 
large broad grooved sheave, having two or three wraps of 
the rope around it. This is carried down the pit to the pit 
bottom, and from thence to the various parts of the pit, 
where the power is needed ; this rope is driven at a speed of 
1 1-4 to 1 1-2 miles per hour ; this manner of conveying the 
power suits the endless rope the best, while the compressed 
air engine suits the "tail rope method," or any style where 
quick motion is required. The leading systems in use 
mostly are : 

The Endless Kope System. 

The Tail Eope System. 

The Simple Engine Plane or Slope. 

The Gravity or Self-Acting Plane or Slope (called 
when the rope is endless, an "endless jig.") 
These systems are all modified to some extent to suit the 
varying circumstances. The endless variety of their appli- 
ances to prevent their ropes from rubbing, convinced me that 
they paid close attention to wear and tear of their underr 
9 



130 GEOLOGICAL SUBYET OP ALABAMA. 

ground ropes, some of which are over two miles in length. 
Their endless ropes run slowly; 1 1-4 miles per hour is 
deemed best, 2 1-2 miles per hour being their highest speed. 
Their common hoisting speed in pits of a quatter of a mile 
vertical depth, is one minute for the quarter of a mile; this 
includes the slow run near top and bottom ; one of their 
tail rope trains of about ten cars, passed me in one of their 
gangways at a speed of ten miles per hour; this rather 
surprised me, but I was more astonished on noticing that 
the boy in charge of the train was stretched out at full length 
on top of the last mine car, his head and back not over a 
foot from the roof; his only chance to stop the train was to 
jerk the signal wire at the side of the gangway, the engine 
being a half mile away. 

I was informed by the mine managers that ten miles per 
hour was the ordinary speed of their "tail rope trains" in 
the middle of the haul. Yet with ail the advantages and 
economy of the system of underground wire rope haulage, 
the lack of machinery and appliances, the absence of labor 
skilled and trained to handle and use it, will no doubt cause 
our mine managers to hesitate considerably before adopting 
it, but should any of them decide to adopt it, their best 
plan would be to go and see it in operation, examine the 
different systems, and study the various changes made in 
the use of the applianc3s to suit the different conditions 
and circumstances, then make arrangements to secure the 
machinery and appliances as needed, in the section of 
country where wire rope haulage is well understood and 
extensively used; then begin with the simplest and easiest 
form of wire rope haulage and increase gradually as the 
laborers become more skilled and trained. To begin to 
adopt it in its more complicated forms, perhaps might 
result in failure and disaster. For conveying power to the 
"tail rope system," or any other quick motion system of 
underground haulage, where it is a long distance from day- 
light, the dynamo, electric wire and electric motor is supe- 
rior to compressed air or any other method, and more 
economical. The electric wire will yet supply with power 
all mining pumps and wire rope haulage systems, that are 
situated a long distance from daylight. 



MINING. 131 

Instead of copper wire, iron rods of 5 or 6 times the sec- 
tional area of the copper wire, will answer equally as w«ll 
or better, for conveying power underground. 

For conveyance of power from the surface to endless rope 
systems that are not very distant from daylight, the rope 
itself, driven by a steam engine at the surface, and moving 
at the rate of 1^ miles per hour, is the cheapest and most 
economical conveyance of power to underground haul»g«. 
There is nothing more certain than that in the future, wire 
rope haulage power and the electric power, will be used 
extensively in underground mining operations. It may be 
safer to be wary and move cautiously in their adoption, in- 
creasing their use gradually, still it is only a matter of 
time as to their general adoption. 

In the gangway of our Cahaba Field mines, the overhead 
electric wire would be too dangerous if not insulated. In 
fact all electric wires of high voltage placed in mines should 
either be insulated, or placed in narrow channels so that 
there would be no possible chance of the minor coming ia 
contact with them. 

The storage battery with electric motor (thus doing with- 
out wires), is the best and safest mathod of underground 
electric haulage in gangways that are level, or nearly so. 

In conveying power to pumps or drills, there is no neoM- 
•ity for using any but insulated wires. 



PART IL 

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND DESCRIPTION OF 

THE YALLEY REGIONS ADJACENT TO THE 

CAHABA COAL FIELD. 

— BY — 

EUGENE A. SMITH. 



CONTENTS. 



I. — Origin of the Rocks of the Cahaba Coal Field and adjacent 
Regions, and the Agencies which have brought them into 
their present position Page 137 

II. — Classification of these Rocks, and their distinguishing Char- 
acters Page 146 

III. — Distribution of the Rocks of the diflFerent Geological Forma- 
tions in the Valleys bordering the Cahaba Coal Field. Page 159 



L ORIGIN OF THE ROCKS OF THE CAHA.BA COAL 

FIELD AND ADJACENT REGIONS, AND THE 

AGENCIES WHICH HAVE BROUGHT 

THEM INTO THEIR PRESENT 

POSITIONS. 



The map and sections of Mr. Squire exhibit the structure 
of the Cahaba Field in sufficient detail, but a few words ex- 
planatory of the relations of this field to the others, and to 
the valleys lying between them seem to be required. 

It is the commonly received opinion among geologists, 
and an opinion capable of demonstration, that the older 
stratified or bedded rocks of the Appalachian region of the 
United States, in which is included Cahaba Coal Field and 
the regions above alluded to, were formed partly out of the 
detritus of a previously existing land mass lying to the east- 
ward of the present shore line of the Atlantic ocean, and 
partly out of the calcareous and siliceous matters accumu- 
lated through the agency of living organisms, in the depths 
of an inland sea which formerly occupied the position of 
the greater part of the present United States. This detritus, 
washed down by rains and transported by rivers, was finally 
spread upon the floor of this inland sea. Naturally by far 
greater part of this land waste would be deposited close to 
the shore line, while only the finer sediments such as silt 
and mud would be held in suspension long enough to be 
carried far out to sea and be deposited there, and in the 
clear and moderately deep waters of the sea at a distance 
from the shore would flourish the corals, and other organ- 
isms that formed the limestones and part of the chert or 
siliceous matters. If the floor of this interior sea remained 
stationary while receiving these sediments, it is easy to see 
that it would very soon be silted up by the washings from 
the land, and that no great thickness of variety in the sedi- 
ments would be seen at any one place ; we should not find, 



138 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF AT,ABAMA. 

for instance, alternations of limestone with sandstones and 
conglomerates, while, in point of fact, the sediments which 
make the rocks of these older formations are many thousand 
feet in thickness and consist of sandstones, conglomerates, 
shales, and limestones in many alternations. 

All this is clear demonstration that the floor of the sea 
did not remain stationary during this period, but subsided, 
— at least to the extent of the thickness of the sediments 
accumulated upon it, — not steadily and continuously, but 
with many pauses of downward movement, alternating even 
with movements in the opposite direction, which went so 
far at times as to bring parts of the sea bottom above the 
water, and to afford the requisite conditions for the accumu- 
lation of those immense beds of vegetable matter that con- 
stitute the seams of coal. 

In the manner above sketched, there were accumulated 
upon the floor of the interior sea, and in the marshes and 
peat bogs of the land, and in the estuaries of the rivers, 
during a period of whose duration we have no means of 
making a definite estimate, beds of gravel, sand, mud and 
limestone, and coal beds, of varying thickness according to 
position ; from 40,000 feet near the margin of the sea where 
the greater part of the land waste was deposited, to 4,000 
feet further out to sea where the materials deposited were 
mainly calcareous and siliceous. These beds contain the 
remains of the animals and plants that flourished upon the 
land or in the waters of the ocean during the period of their 
accumulation, and when consolidated and elevated above 
sea level they constitute the rocks of the various geological 
formations. These rocks and their contained organic re- 
mains, have been objects of study and investigation among 
geologists for many years, and as one of the results of these 
investigations, thev have been classed together into a num- 
ber of great groups having certain common characteristics 
of mineral composition and fossils. The names of these great 
geological groups or formations beginning at the lowest and 
proceeding upwards, are Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, and 
Carboniferous. The maximum thickness of the rocks of 
these formations, as they are displayed in Alabama, may be 
approximately given as follows : Cambrian 10,000 feet ; 



VALLEY REGION ; ORIGIN OP THE ROCKS. 139 

Silurian 5,000 feet ; Devonian 100 feet ; Carboniferous 6,600 
feet, making in all not less than 21,600 feet. 

We must next endeavor to explain how these beds have 
been elevated above the sea so as to become a part of the dry 
land, and how they have been brought into the positions 
which they now occupy. As originally deposited, we may 
infer that they were spread out upon the floor of the interior 
sea in sheets or strata, which, allowing for the slopes and 
inequalities of the sea bottom, and the greater thickness of 
the deposits near the shore, were in approximately horizon- 
tal position, and if they were brought up above sea level by 
some gradual and uniform motion of elevation, we should 
have a condition of things such as prevails in the lower part 
of this State, in the territory made by the newer formations 
Cretaceous and Tertiary, viz., the beds thus elevated would 
be nearly he rizontal, but with a slight slope or dip towards 
the sea, or towards the northwest ; there would be no 
mountains or great inequalities of surface except such as 
might be produced by the erosion of rains and running 
waters, and at any one place only a very few feet in thick- 
ness of strata could thus be exposed. We also see to the 
northwest of the region with which we are here concerned, 
in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and beyond, approxi- 
mately level or horizontal strata into which erosion has cut 
only a few hundred feet, aud exposed only a few hundred 
feet of the uppermost beds. On the other hand, we notice 
running diagonally through the upper half of Alabama and 
thence northeabiward through the other States to Canada, 
a belt of country perhaps to 150 to 200 miles in width, the 
strata of which are seldom in horizontal or even approxima- 
tely horizontal posi tion. They are inclined to the horizon at 
varying angles, bpi ng sometimes even perpendicular ; their 
outcropping edgt-s may be followed for many miles in a 
northeast direction ; the lines of outcrop of the edges of 
diflferent beds are approximately parallel with each other, 
and by crossing over these outcrops in a direction at right 
angles to their trend, i. e., from southeast to northwest, we 
may pass in succession over the strata of the whole series 
of geological formations from Cambrian up to Coal 
Measures, and all within the distance of a few miles. A 



140 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

further inspection of these rocks will show us that they have 
not only been tilted up but have been crushed together, and 
folded in a very complex way, and that rocks which are 
widely apart in the geological scale, are often found in direct 
contact. We shall see, moreover, that these disturbances 
are more profound along the southeastern part of this belt, 
and constantly diminish in intensity as we go northwest- 
wards, so that the strata even in the northwestern part of 
this State, are thrown very little out of their originally 
horizontal position. It is evident therefore, that the strata 
of this region have been subjected to the action of some 
other force than one by which they were merely gradually 
elevated, and that whatever may have been the origin and 
nature of this force, it was much more pronounced in its 
effects along the southeastern border of the disturbed region, 
than further to the northwest. 

The same pecularities of structure and attitude charac- 
terize the rocks of the whole Appalachian region from Ala- 
bama to New York and beyond, and these matters have 
been closely and carefully studied by many of the best 
geologists of the country, the brothers Rogers, Safford, 
Lesley, Dana, and others ; most of the peculiarities of Ap- 
palachian structure have been described, and satisfactory 
explanations of the approximate causes of these peculiari- 
ties have been given. 

No one who will carefully examine the positions of the 
various rocks exposed, for instance, in Jones' valley, can 
fail to see that these rocks have been pushed up, in such a 
way as to cause their broken or exposed edges to trend 'or 
run in the general direction of the course of the valley, i. e., 
northeast and southwest, and that most of these rock ledges 
show a dip or slope towards the southeast. This position 
of originally horizontal beds could be brought about only 
through the action of some force coming either from the 
southeast or from the northwest, and compressing them to- 
gether in that direction into much narrower limits than 
they originally occupied, and this compression into narrower 
limits could take place only by the strata being thrown into 
a series of wrinkles or folds, or by their being rent apart 
and one side slipped up over or past the other. There are 



VALLEY REGION ; ORIGIN OF THE ROCKS. 141 

many reasons for the conclusion that the force in question 
came from the southeast rather than from the northwest, one 
of these reasons among many, as already said, being that 
the intensity of the disturbance constaLtly diminishes as we 
go from southeast to northwest. 

The varying degree of deformation of the strata by vary- 
ing amounts of compression can be imitated on a small 
scale and illustrated by pressing together sheets of cloth of 
clav or other plastic material. 

If we place on a table a number of sheets of flexible cloth 
piled one upon the other like the sheets in a pad of paper, 
and fixing one edge of this pad, push or slide along the table 
the opposite edge towards the fixed edge, we shall see that 
a number of wrinkles will be at once formed across the 
sheets of cloth at right angles to the direction of the com- 
pression. If we continue to press the edges of the sheets 
towards each other, the arches will rise higher and higher, 
and begin to lap over in one direction, which, in the majority 
of cases, will be the direction towards which the shoving 
force acts. In a few cases the troughs will be shoved under 
the arches and the folds will lap over in the opposite 
direction. 

Now, if we study closely the folds or wrinkles into which 
the strata of the region about which we are now writing have 
been thrown, we may easily recognize the very same arrange- 
ment. There are simple folds or arches, with almost equal 
slope on each side of the crest line, but these are rare ; 
there are folds in which the arches have been pushed over 
towards the northwest, making the slope on that side 
steeper than on the southeast, these are very common; 
there are folds which have been pressed together so that 
the two sides are about parallel, and then lapped over to 
the northwest, these are also very common. On the other 
hand we find folds in which the troughs have been shoved 
under the arches so as to cause the steeper slope to be on 
the southeast side, and when this movement has gone on far 
enough the arches have the appearance of having been lap- 
ped together and pushed over towards the southeast by a 
force acting from the northwest; these cases are by no means 
so common as the others, yet we see in Murphree's Valley 



142 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

and a few other places good illustrations in point After 
the folds have been pressed together and lapped over to one 
side, no further yielding to the compressing force can take 
place except by the giving way of the strata and the sliding 
of one part over the other, in other words, by the breaking 
apart and piling up of the beds. Now when a break occurs 
in a fold of the usual type, i. e., one which has been pushed 
over to the northwest, it is along the crest of the arch where 
the strain has been greatest, and the southeastern side slipa- 
up over the northwestern. Faults of this kind are usually 
designated as thrust faults, and the displacement sometimes 
goes so far as to shove a great body of strata over other beds 
for many hundreds of feet, and in some countries for miles 
even. In folds of the other class named, i. e. where the 
troughs have been shoved under the arches, the break oc- 
curs near the bottom of the trough, and the strata on the 
southeast of the line of fault are slipped under those on the 
northwest. The general effect of this kind of slip or fault 
is the same as if the compressing force had come from th& 
opposite direction and had produced a thrust fault of the 
ordinary kind. These are also thrust faults, but to dis- 
tinguish them from the normal type of thrust faults they^ 
might perhaps be called reversed thrust faults. In Mar- 
phree's valley and west of McAshan mountain, we have fine 
illustrations of this type of structure. In all these thrust 
faults we have either the older beds slipped up over newer 
ones, or newer ones shoved under the older, in either case 
brinaiiig about a reversal of the natural arrangement. 

But there is another kind of reversal. We have seen that 
all our Alabama thrust faults are, in their origin, folds in 
which the strain of the compression has been carried bejond 
the limits of endurance of the strata, and hence when the 
break occurs along the crest of an arch of the typical sort, 
the gently sloping beds of the over-riding side will slip up 
over the steeply inclined or even overturned edges of the beds 
of the overridden side, the inclination of the edges of this 
side depending upon the degree of overpush or over-lap of 
the fold, and it may be quite possible that in the movement 
of tne one series of beds over the other the edges of the 
underlying series may by friction be bent still further in the 



VALLEY REGION ; ORIGIN OF THE ROCKS. 143 

direction of the thrust. In this way the upturned edges of 
the overridden side may be carried beyond the perpendicular 
and be actually reversed. Instances of this kind are com- 
mon enough ; the cross section given on another page shows 
it, particularly on the southeastern border of the Cahaba 
field, and on that of the Warrior field. 

In a similar way, when the break occurs near the bottom 
of a trough that has been shoved under an arch, the edges 
of the under-shoved set will be bent or turned back more or 
less, and this also may go so far as to cause a reversal. We 
see this along the eastern edge of Murphree's Valley almost 
its entire length. 

So far as I know, all the Alabama thrust faults have 
highly inclined or overturned strata on one side of the faults, 
and these vertical or reversed beds will be on the northwest 
or southeast side of the fault according to the character of 
the fault, whether a typical or a reversed one. In the great 
majority of cases the vertical or overturned strata are on 
the northwest side, for the reason that the great majority of 
the faults are typical ones. 

Usually the upturned edges occupy only a narrow belt, 
because part of them are generally below the surface, in the 
fault, and covered by the overriding measures ; but we have 
one maguificeut example of the reversal of a great series of 
beds, in the overturned measures of the lower part of the 
Cahaba field, west of Montevallo, for here is a strip of the 
Coal Measures, two miles wide and six or seven miles long, 
pushed over beyond the perpendicular to an angle of 60°, 
and at the border of this strip we have the instance of the 
complete overturning of the measures and the gliding of the 
Cambrian strata over them, described in detail in another 
place and illustrated by a photographic view. 

The folds above spoken of are not symmetrical waves with 
crest and trough of equal width, but, as may be seen by any 
map of the Appalachian region, consist of rather narrow 
crests, with wide troughs between, in which the strata aie 
either approximately horizontal or only slightly undulating. 
These troughs, or the most important ones, with raised 
edges and with the strata sloping from each 'side towards 
the central line {synclinal), are the coal fields, which have to 



14.4 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

greater or less extent resisted the denudation which carried 
away so much material from the intervening crests. It 
may be asked why the strata along the crests of the folds 
were so much more completely removed than from the 
troughs. One reason of this may be found in the fact that 
the strata along the crests would be more or less torn and 
disrupted from the strain of the folding, while those of the 
troughs would be more or less compacted by compression. 
This, along with other causes, has led to the formation of 
anticlinal valleys, that is, of valleys which have been eroded 
out of the tops or crests of anticlinal folds, and of this 
character, more or less masked by faults, overlaps, and 
other complications, are the valleys above named which 
border the Cahaba field. In all these valleys, the strata 
were raised up first into ridges with perhaps originally 
somewhat equal slope both ways, northwest and southeast 
from the central line {anticlinal); with increase of pressure 
the folds were pushed over towards the northwest ; com- 
pressed together and lapped over to the northwest ; broken 
apart and slipped ; and finally by erosion, worn down into 
valleys in which now only the projecting edges of the strata 
are seen. These, by their relative position, give us the 
clew to the structure. When the strata were thrown into 
waves by the compressing force above spoken of, the crests 
of these waves were raised much above the level of the in- 
tervening troughs, and when, by subsequent denudation 
these arches were worn down to the general level or nearly 
to it, the lower strata of the arches were uncovered and ex- 
posed to view, usually in the form of projecting ledges in 
the case of the harder rocks, and of trenches in the case of 
the softer and more easily eroded ones. 

In this way the strata of the different geological forma- 
tions down to the lowest, have come to occupy the surface 
in these valleys, usually in strips or belts which run ap- 
proximately parallel to the length of the valley, and which, 
in consequence of the anticlinal structure are normally 
duplicated, though as a result of faults they sometimes ap- 
pear only once in a section across the valley, and sometimes 
where, as in Jones' Valley, the structure is a double anti- 
clinal combined with faults, they are repeated a third time. 



VALLEY REGION; ORIGIN OF THE ROCKS. 145 

Illustrations of all three of these cases will be given in the 
special description of the valleys. 

It seems hardly necessary to state in so many words that 
the strata of our different Coal Fields as well as of the geo- 
logical formatiots that underlie them, were from their very 
mode of origin continuous, and that their present separa- 
tion has come about through the foldings, faults, and denu- 
dations, which we have been describing. 

We might infer that after the strata had been thus brought 
up and added to the land area, their subsequent history 
would be merely a record of gradual degradation and level- 
ing down by erosion. But we have evidence in the lower 
part of the region shown on this map, that after this part of 
the State had been elevated and undergone the changes 
mentioned and attained almost its present configuration, it 
was in part again submerged below the water level, and was 
overspread by the washings from that part which remained 
above the water. Only in this way could the great beds of 
sand, clay, and pebbles which cover so much of the area in 
the lower portion of the map, have been deposited upon the 
ridges and the valleys of the old land surface. This sub- 
mergence happened during the period termed by geologists 
the Cretaceous, which is comparatively modern as contrasted 
with the age of the formations above named. From the 
distribution of these beds we can see that the shore line 
during this time of partial submergence ran in a curve 
stretching from the northwestern part of the State to near 
the middle, at Columbus, Ga. To the west and south of 
that line the land sank below the water, while it remained 
above water to the east and north. 

And still later, almost in modern times, geologically speak- 
ing, when the dry land area of Alabama had attained its 
present extent, and the surface had by long continued denuda- 
tion acquired almost its present configuration, our State was 
again below water, receiving deposits of pebbles, sand and 
mud, which in the upper part of the State have since been 
in great measure been washed away again, but patches of 
which still remain often upon the summits of the highest 
hills. In the lower half of the State these deposits have 

lu 



146 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

been much less completely removed, but remain to form th& 
great bulk of the soils of that section. 

Of these later movements, it is not our intention to speak 
except in so far as may be necessary to explain the presence 
of these overlying surface beds which in places hide the 
formations with which we are now more particularly 
concerned. 



II. CLASSIFICATION OF THESE KOCKS ANI> 
THEIR DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS. 

With this sketch of the manner in which the sediments 
were accumulated and afterwards brought up above sea 
level and into the positions in which they are now found, 
we may go on to speak of the distinguishing characters of 
the rocks with their contained fossils, of each of the great 
groups or formations Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, and Car- 
boniferous, and to note the minor subdivisions into which 
they may be conveniently arranged for purposes of study 
and description here in Alabama. 

It would lead us too far to undertake to speak of the 
characteristic fossils of each of these formations, except to 
say that they are more unlike the forms of the present day, 
the further we go back in the geological scale, and the re- 
semblance to living plants and animals becomes more and 
more pronounced as we approach the top of our geological 
column; but in all cases, in the formations with which we 
are concerned in the present report, the resemblance of the 
fossils to living forms is rather remote. This has led to the 
grouping of the four formations above named into one 
division which has been called Paleozoic (Ancient Life), in 
allusion to the want of resemblance to modern forms. 
Except at a very few horizons, fossils are not abundant in 
our Alabama Paleozoic rocks, and rarely come under the 
notice of the ordinary observer, yet to the student of geology 
they are of the very greatest value since by means of them 
it becomes comparatively easy to determine the relative 
ages of the different formations containing them, when the 
stratigraphical relations of these rocks are not readily made 
out. As an illustration of this I might say that there are 



VALLEY REGION ; CHARACTERS OF THE R0CK3. 147 

many places in Alabama, and particularly in the region 
covered by this map, where the rock beds have been com- 
pletely overturned, so that the older beds are on top of the 
younger. It would often be impossible to determine the 
relative ages of these rocks by their physical characters, and' 
where they have been overturned their relative position 
would of course, be absolutely misleading if we judged by 
tne stratigraphical position alone; but as each of these great- 
divisions has its characteristic fossils, these become in many 
cases our safest, and sometimes our only trustworthy guides 
in determining the age of the rocks in which they are im- 
bedded. 

Since all these rocks have been formed either out of the^ 
detritus or waste of previously existing land masses (con- 
glomerates, sandstones, grits, shales and slates), or through 
the agency of living organisms, (limestones, flinty or cherty 
matters, and coal and all forms of bituminous matters), one- 
would naturally think that it would be impossible to dis- 
tinguish one sandstone or one limestone from another, or in 
other words to distinguish one of our geological formations 
from 'another by its lithological or rock characters. As- 
a matter of fact, however, the field geologist, after a very few 
weeks or months of practice, learns to distinguish the 
different formations by their rocks, and hence the lithologi- 
cal characters are of almost equal value with the fossils in 
classifying our rock formations, and inasmuch as the fossils 
are nowhere very abundant, in the great majority of cases 
we make use of the lithological characters alone in studying 
and identifying the different geological formations. 

It is easy to see that it is nearly impossible to describe 
the rocks of these older formations in terms which will en- 
able the inexperienced observer to identify them, yet a short 
account of the prevailing characteristics of the rocks is nec- 
essary to the full understanding of the description of their 
distribution in the valleys. It must, however, be constantly 
borne in mind that the characters of the rocks of all these 
formations vary with the geographical locality, they being 
generally coarser in texture and more siliceous towards the 
east than further west. Thus in the Cambrian formation- 
there are in the Coosa Valley beds of immense thickness of 



148 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

a coarse grained sandstone or conglomerate, which in the 
yallejs further westward, such as Cahaba Valley and Jones' 
Valley, are wholly wanting. So also the shales of the same 
formation are sandier in composition in the Coosa Valley 
and more calcareous in the two other valleys named. 

THE CAMBRIAN. — The rocks of this formation are con- 
glomerates, sandstones and shales in the Coosa Valley 
region, and shales and shaly limestone in the valleys which 
occupy part of the area of this map. The maximum thick- 
ness may be put at 10,000 feet, but this great thickness is 
seen only in the eastern part of the Coosa Valley, while in 
Jones' Valley the thickness is probably less than half the 
above. 

The sub-divisions of the Cambrian which we recognize 
in Alabama are, in ascending order, as follows : the Coosa 
Shales, the Choccolocco or Montevallo Shales, and, interbed- 
ded with the last named, the Weisner Quartzite. 

Coosa Shales. — In the valleys here described the rocks 
are, commencing with the lowest, thin-bedded limestones 
with clay seams between; usually very greatly contorted 
and tilted at high angles. Where these rocks come to the 
surface there results from their decomposition a very stiff 
calcareous clay soil. These lauds being very level and 
hence badly drained, are not much cultivated, and in Ala- 
bama are generally known as "Flatwoods." The town of 
Bessemer is upon one of these "Flatwoods" tracts, and 
similar areas may be seen between Bessemer and Birming- 
ham, and northeast of Springville towards Gadsden, and in 
the immediate valley of the Coosa River up to and beyond 
the line between Alabama and Georgia. The shaly lime- 
stones that give rise to these "Flatwoods," we have called 
Coosa Shales. 

Montevallo S holes.— Aho\e these Coosa Shales we find a con- 
siderable thickness of sandy shales of a great variety of col- 
ors, such as olive, green, brown, chocolate, yellowish, etc. The 
original material was a calcareous shale, but at the outcrops 
the calcareous matter has mostly been pretty thoroughly 
leached out, and only the more siliceous parts left. These 
shales crumble up in places into small fragments about the 
size and shape of shoe-pegs. Sometimes they are more 



VALLEY REGION; CHARACTERS OF THE ROCKS. 149 

tough and hard, and, especially towards the east, assume 
gradually the characters of the semi-crystalline rocks, and 
it is capable of demonstration that some of the partly 
crystalline slates of the eastern part of the Coosa Valley 
are only the changed or metamorphosed representatives of 
this division, which has been called the MoatevaVo or 
Choccolocco Shales from the characteristic occurrences in 
those localities. In Jones' and Gahaba Valleys these do 
not play a very important part except in the lower part of 
the Cahaba Valley from Centerville up to Moiitevallo. Be- 
yond this limit they outcrop only in narrow and compara- 
tively unimportant belts. In the upper part cl the Monte- 
vallo Shales we find beds of blue limestone and gray 
dolomite which are often difficult to distinguish from similar 
rocks occurring in the nest ovei'lyiug formation. In fact 
the line between the Shales and the Knox Dolomite is, so 
far as Alabama is concerned, rather an arbitrary one. 

Weisner Quartzite. — In the Shales above described and most 
commonly in their lower parts, are found in the eastern part 
of the Coosa Valley great beds of quartzite and conglomerate 
many hundred feet in thickness, but often of very limited 
extent geographically. The quartzites always form high 
and rugged mountains sometimes stretching for miles in an 
unbroken range, but as often forming detached and isolated 
peaks, rising suddenly out of the plains and as suddenly 
sinking down to the same level. The "Mountain" near 
Columbiana, the Kahatchee Hills, Alpine Mountain, Mount 
Parnassus at Talladega, Cold Water Mountain and Blue 
Mountain near Anniston, L idiga Mountain above Jackson- 
ville, Weisner Mountain east of Jacksonville, are instances 
of occurrences of this quartzite. The Weisner Mountain 
above named has been best studied, and its stratigraphical 
relations to the Coosa, Shales and to the Choccolocco 
Shales, most clearly made out, for which reason we have 
ii3ed the name Weisner Quarbdte to designate this member 
of our Cambrian, which occurs interpolated in the Shales as 
local masses of lenticular shape and often of very great 
thickness. 

Prof. Safford, of Tennessee, has given the name Chilhoivee 
to similar great masses of sandstone and quartzite occurring 



150 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

in that State apparently below the Shales above named, which 
he designates as the Knox Shale and Sandstone. In Ten- 
nessee the distinction between the shale and the sandstone 
member of the Knox Group, can be consistently followed 
out, but it does not seem practicable in Alabama to separate 
the two, for beds of tolerably massive sandstone occur at 
many horizons, interbedded with the shales. So also, for 
the reason that in Alabama the great masses of quartzite 
do not occur at the base of the shales, nor apparently, at 
&nj definite horion in the same, we have not used Professor 
Safford's name Chilhowee to designate the rock. Similarly 
it appears necessary to adopt a distinct name for the thin- 
bedded limestones with clay seams, of our "Flatwoods," 
since they play a very subordinate part if they occur at all 
in Tennessee. As above intimated, the Weisner Quartzite 
makes no show iu any of the region covered by this map, 
and it is mentioned here only to give completeness to our 
enumeration of the Cambrian rocks. 

THE SILURIAN.— We have not yet in Alabama found it 
practicable to arrange our Silurian strata in more than three 
principal divisions, which, beginning at the lowest and com- 
ing upwards, are as follows : Knox Dolomite, Trenton or 
Pelham Limestone, and Red Mountain or Clinton. 

Knox Dolomite. — This name has been given by Dr. Saf- 
ford to a series of rocks occurring in the vicinity of Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, and, inasmuch as the rocks of this horizon 
in Alabama are identical with those described by him, we 
have retained the name in the Alabama Survey. This is 
one of the most important and widely spread of our older 
geological formations and its characteristic rocks are magne- 
sian limestones or dolomites, sometimes quite pure, but 
more often impregnated with siliceous matter. This sili- 
ceous matter is sometimes found as a sandy impurity in some 
•of the dolomites, upon the weathering of which it becomes 
quite prominent. For this reason, many of the dolomite 
beds of the lower part of the Knox Dolomite, when exposed 
to the weather, show a rougb sandy surface, marked by shal- 
low cracks running in every direction as if the rock had been 
hacked with some cutting instrumeat. These purer and 
sandy dolomites, together with some beds of tolerably pure 



VALLEY REGION ; CHARACTERS OF THE ROCKS. 151 

blue limestone, occur near the base of the Knox Dolomite, 
^nd are very closely related to similar beds of the Shale di- 
vision already described. On the other hand, the siliceous 
matter in the upper part of the formation is usually found 
in masses of chert of concretionary origin impregnating the 
dolomite, and on the breaking down of these rocks under 
the action of the weather, the calcareous parts are leached 
out while the siliceous parts remain usually in the form of 
angular flinty gravel, which forms the very characteristic 
ridges of the Knox Dolomite. In the region covered by this 
map, we have found it convenient to distinguish the area 
underlaid by the lower and more calcareous part of the 
formation and that formed by the upper or more siliceous 
part. In the former, the weathering of the limestones and 
dolomites has given rise to the formation of gently undulat- 
ing terranes with a deep red-colored sandy loam soil of 
more than average fertility, which is the base of the best 
farming lands in all these valleys. The red lands about 
Elyton, and in parts of Birmingham, and in the Alexandria 
Yalley across the Coosa, are good examples. In the upper 
part of the Dolomite the cherty or siliceous matter is more 
abundant as a surfctce material than the calcareous, and the 
country is broken or ridgy, rather than undulating. Some 
of these flint ridges extend for long distances unbroken. 
Good examples are the ridges of the North and South High- 
lands about Birmingham. In fact this angular cherty gravel 
is found upon all the lands made by the Knox Dolomit?e, 
but is much more abundant and characteristic in the upper 
part. The Knox Dolomite contains very few fossils, and 
these belong to the Lower Silurian horizon of the paleon- 
tologists, but we have in the chert itself a characteristic by 
which we can as a rule distinguish it from the chert of other 
formations, that is, we find in most of it small angular cavi- 
ties of clearly defined shape which are usually thought to 
mark the places once occupied by rhombohedral crystals of 
dolomite, subsequently dissolved out. Prof. Safford was 
the first to call attention to this mark, which we have found 
to be an extremely useful one. The Knox Dolomite as well 
as the upper part of the underlying formation seams to have 
held originally much ferruginous as well as siliceous matter, 



152 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

and we find throughout the region formed both by the 
Dolomite and the upper part of the Shale, beds of the brown 
iron ore or limonite, which plays so important a part in the 
economic history of all this region. The iron ore seems to 
have been derived from these older rocks. As instances of 
the occurrence of limonite banks connected with the Dolo- 
mite and Shale, I may mention the Edwards Ore Bank near 
Woodstock, the mines at Greely and Goethite, in Jones' 
Valley, and the great beds at Shelby over the Coosa. The 
great bulk of the brown ores of Alabama is from this 
horizon. 

At the top of the Knox Dolomite, and belonging perhaps 
to the next succeeding division, there is a rather peculiar 
rock occurring at intervals along Jones' Valley and else- 
where. It is a breccia made up of angular fragments, chiefly 
of the chert of the Knox Dolomite, cemented together into 
a rock which is a good many feet in thickness. This rock, 
being made of fragments of the Knox Dolomite, is of course 
younger, though on account of its materials we have usually 
classed it along with the Knox Dolomite. It is seen in 
greatest volume in the Salem Hills southwest of Bessemer, 
but occurs upon the Flint ridge forming the North High- 
lands at many pionts, e. g. Birmingham and Gate City, and 
also west of Springville. It has been called the Birming- 
ham breccia by Mr. Eussell of the United States Survey, 
and Salem breccia by us in the State Survey. It is of in- 
terest as showing that a period of disturbance intervened 
between the time of the formation of the Knox Dolomite 
and that of the Trenton Limestone. We have not attempted 
to show on the map the occurrences of this rock. 

Trenton or Pelham Limestone. — As its name implies, this 
division is mostly calcareous. It may be perhaps as a 
maximum, 800 feet or more in thickness, and varies con- 
siderably in quality, the lower part being ususally impure 
and shaly, while the upper part is mostly a pure limestone, 
often used for the purpose of making lime and as a flux in 
the furnaces. The lower part commonly holds great number 
of shells of Maclurea magna, which is a characteristic fossil 
of the Chazy limestone of the New York Geologists. The 
purer limestone above, is also quite full of fossils, which, as 



VALLEY REGION ; CHARACTERS OF THE ROCKS. 153 

a group, are those of the Trenton limestone of New York. 

In places, particularly in the region south of the Cahaba 
Field in Bibb county, the uppermost beds of this formation, 
above the purer limestone mentioned, are calcareous shales 
and shaly limestones, often full of the fossil forms known as 
grapioUtes. Where these thin-bedded shaly limestones oc- 
cur abundantly forming the surface, cedar glades are quite 
characteristic. 

The valley between the Cahaba and the Coosa Coal 
Fields shows a wide belt of Trenton limestone, which 
is particularly pure and well developed near Pelham and 
Siluria in Shelby county, and southwards. Near Pratt's 
Ferry on the Cahaba, and stretchiug thence northeastward 
there is another great belt of it, containing some fine mar- 
bles, which have in a small degree been worked at Pratt's 
Ferry. 

For the sake of completeness, I might add that the phase 
of the Silurian formation to which Prof. Saiford in Ten- 
nessee has applied the name of jSfashville, has its represen- 
tative in Alabama though not within the area shown on this 
map. 

The Clinton or Bed Mountain Formation. — This is the third 
and uppermost of the divisions of the Silurian which we 
make in this State. The mass of the rocks of the Red 
Mountain are sandstones and shales, which show a great 
variety of color, yellow, red, brown, chocolate, and olive 
green, in this respect resembling the Montevallo Shales. 
Along with these are some calcareous and ferruginous rocks, 
the latter passing into beds of red iron ore, made up of 
small flattened nodules, sheU casts, etc., of ferric oxide. 
In many places, where mining has penetrated the ore 
bed beyond the reach of atmospheric agencies, the ore 
is seen to be quite calcareous ; ia fact, a kind of highly 
ferruginous limestone, which, when used in the furnace, 
often contains lime enough to flux the ore. At the out- 
crop the ore is seldom calcareous, though often sandy. 
So far as I know there has been no very satisfactory expla- 
nation of the mode of formation of this ore. It is of very 
variable thickness up to twenty feet, and is in more than one 
bed. It is a remarkable fact that while near Oxmoor the 



154 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

ore is some twenty feet in thickness, just across the Cahaba 
Coal Field in the Cahaba Valley about six miles distant, the 
Bed Mountain, or rather its representative, contains no ore 
at all in the greater part of its length, nor does it seem to 
contain any of the Clinton rocks. As is well known this 
formation furnishes the greater part of the material used in 
our furnaces. In places, the ferruginous limestone of this 
formation would make a fine building stone, and the same 
is true of the sandstones. It would be difficult to give the 
average thickness of the Red Mountain rocks proper, in the 
region of the present map ; 100 feet might perhaps be a fair 
average, for the Red Mountain as a topographic feature, is 
made up of the rocks of different ages, Trenton, Clinton and 
Sub-Carboniferous, together with the usually very thin black 
shale of the Devonian. 

The thickness of the whole Silurian in this part of the 
State given above as about 5,000 feet, is only an estimate. 
The true thickness it will be very difficult to determine, 
especially in the case of the most important member, the 
Knox Dolomite, since it is in great part made up, so far as 
surface materials are concerned, of loose fragments of chert 
in which the bedding planes are seldom to be seen. A 
greater part of the area of our valleys is held by this forma- 
tion than by any other, and its importance is still further 
enhanced by the fact that it is the chief source of the brown 
iron ores of the State. Many of the noted big springs issue 
from this formation. 

THE DEVONIAN.— The only representative in Alabama 
of this system of rocks, which in the States further north is 
of great thickness and importance, is a thin bed of Black 
Shale, averaging perhaps ten or fifteen feet, but being ap- 
parently absent altogether in some places. A few fossils 
have been found in it in the Valley of the Tennessee in North 
Alabama, which serve to fix its position as a member of the 
Devonian. The shale being soft and somewhat easily 
eroded, is usually covered aod concealed by the debris of 
the adjacent rocks, so that it does not commonly come under 
notice even where it is present. It is of importance chiefly* 
perhaps, as being the source of some of our best known 
sulphur springs. The shale usually contains a large amount 



VALLEY REaiON; CHARACTERS OF THE ROCKS. 155 

of pyrite in the form of nodules or kidney- shaped concre- 
tions, the decomposition of which supplies the sulphur of 
these springs. In North Alabama the thickness of the 
Black Shale may go up as high as 100 feet, but so extreme 
a thickness is rarely seen further south. 

THE CAEBONIFEEOUS.— This we conveniently divide 
in Alabama into two parts, a lower, or Sub-Carboniferous^ 
and an upper or coal bearing part, the true Coal Measures. 
The thickness of the latter is placed by Mr. Squire at 5525 
feet, and the former at 1,200, making a total of between 6,000 
and 7,000 feet. 

Sub- Carboniferous. — Prof. Safford divides this formation 
in Tennessee into an Upper or Calcareous member, and a 
Lower or Siliceous one. This division will also apply 
equally well to that part of Alabama north of the Tennessee 
river, but to the south, and everywhere in the narrow anti- 
clinal valleys of the State, this division will not suit, and 
we are compelled to make a different one. Like Prof. Saf- 
ford, however, we make a two fold division, the Fori Payne 
Chert below, and the Oxmoor Sandstone and Shales, and the 
Bangor Limestone above, roughly corresponding to the 
divisions of Prof. Safford, with the differences below 
specified. 

In the Tennessee Valley, the siliceous member of the 
Sab-Carboniferous consists of a great series of cherty lime- 
stones somewhat analogous to the Knox Dolomite, but with 
the lower part more cherty than the upper. This lower 
part gives rise to rather poor siliceous soils, and the region 
of its oscurrence both in Alabama and Tennessee is known 
as the "Barrens" ; the upper part of the Siliceous member 
is more calcareous and the soil derived from its disintegra- 
tion is a red loam of more than ordinary fertility, well known 
in the Tennessee Valley as making the best farming lands 
of that section. Here again there is an analogy to the Knox 
Dolomite, which affords on the one hand rich red loam soils, 
and on the other poor cherty ridges. 

The chert of the Sub- Carboniferous is in general very 
similar to that of the Knox Dolomite, but differs from it in 
being usually very highly fossiliferous, containing the casts 
or moulds of shells that have been leached or dissolved out. 



15G GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

This character of the Sub-Carboniferous chert, and the 
presence of the rhombohedral cavities in the chert of Knox 
Dolomite enable us in almost every case to distinguish be- 
tween the two. 

Now, in the anticlinal valleys south of the Tennessee 
river we find itimpossible to carryoutthis two- fold division 
of the lower or Siliceous member of the Sub-Carboniferous, 
for the entire member shows, upon the surface at least, little 
else than chert, which appears in a mantle of angular frag- 
ments, covering usually one side of all our Red Mountain 
ridges, a 

We have called this the Fort Panne Chert, and it is prob- 
ably the representative of both the subdivisions of the lower 
Sub-Carboniferous or Siliceous group, of North Alabama 
and Tennessee, as long ago conjectured by Prof. Safford. 
Its thickness is not very great as compared with that of the 
upper member. 

The Upper Calcareous member is variable in composition. 
In North Alabama it is chiefly a limestone called Mountain 
Limes'one, from the fact that it forms the flanks of most of 
the mountains in that section that are capped with the Coal 
Measures, h 

Within this limestone there is interbedded a layer of 
sandstone of variable thickness, perhaps 100 feet at a maxi- 
mum in the Tennessee Valley, while the over and underly- 
ing limestones are many times that. As we come southward, 
the sandstone becomes more important, and the lower sec- 
tion of the limestone appears to give way to, or to be re- 
placed by, a series of black shales closely resembling those 
of the Devonian but many times more massive. In many 
places in the anticlinal valleys, and especially the further 
south we go, the upper limestone also appears to be want- 
ing or to be replaced by the shales and sandstones above 
named. The limestone which comes next below the Coal 

a We have already adverted to the fact that these Red Mountain 
ridges are formed of the Clinton, the Black Shale and the Sab-Carboni- 
ferous chert, and the same structure has been mentioned by Safford as 
characterizing the Dye Stone ridges of Tennessee. 

b The name, however, comes from Europe, where it appears jn similar 
relations to the Coal Measures. 



VALLEY REGION; CHARACTERS OF THE ROCKS. 157 

Measures is well exposed at many places as at Bangor, 
Blount Springs, and Trussville, where it is very extensively 
quarried for use as a fluxing material in the furnaces, as it 
is in part a very pure limestone, but south of the latitude of 
Birmingham it is very rarely seen, and in its stead we find 
the black shales mentioned. These shales are often inter- 
stratified with dark colored limestones and sometimes with 
tolerably pure limestones, but these are unimportant in 
thickness as compared with the shales and sandstones. 
The greater part of Shades Valley is based upon these 
sandstones and shales, though the limestone appears in 
several places. 

The sandstone which in North Alabama lies between 
the two beds of Mountain Limestone, has a very 
close resemblance in texture and other characters to the 
lowermost rocks of the Coal Measures commonly called the 
Millstone grit, and it makes its appearance in that part of 
the State either as a bench along the sides of the Cumber- 
land Mountain spurs, or else as the capping and protecting 
rock of a detached ridge separated from the Sand Mountain 
(Coal Measures), by a narrow valley of erosion. In the anti- 
clinal valleys further south, this sandstone with the litholo- 
gical characters above named, appears commonly as a 
distinct ridge running parallel to the escarpment of the Coal 
Measures, with a narrow valley of shales between. It ap- 
pears to best advantage on one of the detached ridges above 
spoken of, near Tuscumbia, at the site of the old college 
town of Lagrange, and we have often used the name 
Lagrange Sandstone to designate it; but the name Lagrange 
has been used to denote an entirely difi'erent formation 
which has caused us to replace it by the name Oxrnoor, 
where the rocks are also well exposed, and where the shales 
are more conspicuous than at Lagrange. 

Coal Pleasures. — Of these rocks it does not seem necessary 
to speak in detail, since Mr. Squire has described the Coal 
Measures of the Cahaba Field, and since the measures of all 
the Alabama fields were probably once continuous, the 
description of the rocks of one will answer for all. 

CRETACEOUS. — In the lower part of the area shown in 
the map our study of the distribution of the rocks of older 



158 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

formations is often very much hindered by the fact that they 
are more or less completely covered by superficial beds of 
sand and clay which have been spread over them after they 
had through the agencies above spoken of, been carved into 
topographic forms substantially the same as they now ex- 
hibit. The materials of this later formation are often dis- 
tinguished by a purple or dark red color, the sands are 
mostly yellow, and show lines of cross-bedding, the gravels 
are unevenly distributed, and much less abundant than the 
sands. The clays as well as the sands with which they are in- 
ter stratified, are more particularly characterized by the pur- 
ple color mentioned, but there are many beds of the clay that 
are light gray and white. In a few places these clays are 
utilized for making refractory bricks, and the better grades 
of pottery, as at Woodstock, Bibbville, and Tuscaloosa. 
With careful selection and manipulation, there is hardly - 
doubt that these clays will be found suitable for all the uses 
to which the New Jersey clays are put, since they are es- 
sentially similar and belong to the very same geological 
formation. The formation contains a good deal of iron, 
which appears in the form of sandy and aluminous ores 
with 25 to 35 per cent, of metallic iron, usually scattered 
over the summits and along the slopes of the low hills of 
this region. The per cent, of iron is as a rule too low, and 
that of the silica too high to permit of these ores being 
used while we have such an abundance of ores of better 
grade. 

POST TERTIARY.— Over the greater part of the State, 
except perhaps the extreme northeast, we find surface beds 
of very similar materials to those just described overlying 
the older formations. From about the limits marked on the 
map for the Tuscaloosa beds to the extreme border of the 
State towards the southwestward, we find these later beds 
occupying the surface, often to the extent of completely 
hiding the older rocks below, and forming the great bulk of 
the cultivated soils from the latitude of Tuscaloosa down. 
The distribution of these later beds within the limits of 
this map may be considered the same as that shown for the 
Tuscaloosa, and indeed where one is present the other is 
also in most cases, the Tuscaloosa below, the Orange Sand, 



VALLEY REGION ; DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROCKS. 159 

as it has been called, above. Until a few years ago, they 
were univer3ally confounded or at least not distinguished 
from each other, and the whole of these surface beds were 
thought to be Post-Tertiary, a confusion that very naturally 
followed from the great similarity not only of the material 
but of the mode of distribution, and the stratigraphy. In for- 
mer reports we have called these Drift beds, but it seems 
bestto employ the name originally used by Dr. Hilgard to 
designate them, viz., Orange Sand. 

In his report Mr. Squire speaks of the Drift beds which 
cover so much of the Coal Measures of the Cahaba Field in 
its lower part. These covering beds are in reality both 
Drift or Orange Sand, and Tuscaloosa. 

In the coloring of the map it has not been attempted to 
show the Orange Sand, since its distribution is to all intents 
and purposes identical with that of the Tuscaloosa formation. 



III. DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROCKS OF THE DIF- 
FERENT GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS 
IN THE VALLEYS BORDERING 
THE CAHABA COAL FIELD. 

In the preceding pages we have endeavored to describe 
in a general way, the foldings, fractures, and displacements 
which the great rock masses of the Appalachian region have 
sustained through the action of the lateral pressure to which 
they have been subjected. This was done for the reason 
that, without some knowledge of the main types of geological 
structure prevailing in this region, it would be impossible 
to account for the present distribution and attitude of rocks 
of the different geological formations which appear in the 
two valleys which we shall attempt to describe. 

We have already referred to the fact that with the flexing 
of the strata the crests of the arches, being lines of greatest 
strain were weakened, and fractured, and thus more easily 
wasted by erosion, and it is not surprising that, in process 
of time through the action of denuding forces, valleys should 
come to occupy the places once held by these arches. It is 
also plain that when the crests of these arches have been 
carried away by erosion, the remnants of the strata com. 



160 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

posing them will be exposed in the valleys in parallel 
bands, the oldest formation in the central part or axis of 
the valley, while on each side of this axis, and dipping or 
sloping away from it in opposite directions (anticlinal), will 
occur in regular succession, the newer formations up to the 
highest. Thus, beginning with the Coal Measures on, say, 
the northwest side of such a valley and crossing it towards 
the southeast, we should pass in succession over the strata, 
all dipping to the northwest, of the Sub- Carboniferous 
Devonian and Silurian to the Cambrian, which, as the lowest* 
of the geological series, would occupy the central area. 
Beyond this then would follow, on the other side of the 
axis of the anticlinal, the same formations, only in the 
reverse order, and dipping towards the southeast; thus 
Silurian, Devonian, Sub- Carboniferous, to the Measures of 
the Coal Field on that side. 

Now, as a matter of fact, simple, symmetrical, anticlinal 
structure is rarely seen in any of our valleys, the nearest 
approach to it in the region here treated of being east of the 
Blount Mountain, and east of McAshan Mountain, but in 
both these cases the full series is lacking on one side of the 
anticlinal, by reason of a second fold or of a fault, as will 
be seen in the special description given further on. 

As a rule we find a prevalence of southeasterly dips even 
on the northwestern side of the anticlinals. This could 
come about only by the overlap of the fold in that direction 
and the compressing together of strata so that they all dip 
the same way; or by an overlapped fold combined with a 
fault. In the first case we should have a repetition of the 
strata on each side of the central area, while in the other 
case only a part of the constituent strata of the anticlinal 
would appear on one side of the anticlinal, the rest being 
hidden under the overthrust measures of the other side. A 
study of the map will show that the last named order of 
things prevails in the great majority of cases. 

Before going on to the special description of the valleys, 
it will be instructive to give a general section across the 
whole area of the map at a point where the structure is seen 
in its simplest form. 

The accompanying diagram showing a cross section from 



VALLEY REGION ; DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROCKS. 161 

the Warrior to the Coosa Coal Field, through Birmingham, 
exhibits the main types of geological structure occurring in 
this part of the State, with the exception of those folds 
•which show a prevailing dip in the northwest direction, of 
which mention has been made above, and which will be 
more particularly described in the proper place. 

It must, however, be borne in mind that the diagram is 
not intended to give with absolute fidelity the section across 
the valley along a particular narrow line, but is rather in- 
tended to give the extremes occurring within somewhat 
widely separated limits. To illustrate : the red ore of the 
Clinton formation appears in Little Oak Mountain "i" in 
one or two places only, in the Cahaba Valley ; and still less 
frequently, or rather in a much more fragmentary way, does 
it appear on the flint ridge "a" west of Birmingham ; to the 
west of the fault beyond Opossum Valley we scarcely ever 
see so full a series as here shown of the beds between the 
fault and the Coal Measures in the vicinity of this cross 
section, though it appears farther to the northeast towards 
Murphree's Valley. Keeping these things in mind, we 
shall find the diagram of service. 

Beginning on the right hand of the diagram we see the 
Measures forming the northwestern border of the Coosa 
Coal Field overlooking with a steep face the valley to the 
northwest, the strata of the field dipping back to the south- 
east. Going thence to the northwest across the valley, we 
pass over the beds of the Sub-Carboniferous, Devonian, 
Trenton, Knox Dolomite, and Cambrian ; all dipping south- 
east, and all forming the half of a fold or anticlinal uplift. 
But next beyond the Cambrian we come to the strata of the 
Cahaba Coal Field, with a vertical dip, and in immediate 
contact with the Cambrian ; an association of strata which 
could come only from a break and sliding of the beds on one 
side of the break upon and over those on the other side. 
We see here that we have only the one side of a fold, or arch, 
and that a break has occurred along the crest of this fold, and 
the southeastern side has glided up over the northwestern 
side. We also observe that the beds of the Coal Measures 
adjacent to this break stand at a vertical angle, as a result 
11 



162 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

of the break and the sliding up of the Cambrian beds. Be- 
yond this point the strata of the Cahaba Field soon flatten 
down, and assume a dip to the southeast, these southeast- 
erly dipping beds taken together with the vertical ones just 
mentioned, constituting a synclinal basin with its axis verv 
near to the southeastern edge. The coal beds occurring in 
the vertical measures are undoubtedly the same as those 
occurring in the flatter measures just beyond, but we have 
the authority of Mr. Squire for saying that it is in most 
cases impossible to correlate the seams in the vertical 
measures with those that have not been so much disturbed. 
It is evident from this that the fault has broken up and dis- 
placed these coal seams so that they do not now occupy 
their relative positions in every case. As we cross the 
Oahaba Field we notice that the strata, with local exceptions, 
have a dip to the southeast, and the prevailing dip shows 
that the strata are gradually rising into another anticlinal 
fold which also includes all the underlying formations of 
Shades Valley, Red Mountain, and of the Birmingham 
Valley, as far west as the foot of the flint ridge "a" upon 
which is the cemetery. Here occurs another fault of the 
same nature as the one first described, except that the 
amount of the displacement is not by any means so great. 
At the eastern foot of this flint ridge, we find the strata 
standing in many places nearly vertical, as they do at 
the eastern edge of the Cahaba Coal Field. Along 
this line of fault the Cambrian of the valley lies in 
contact with the strata of the Knox Dolomite in most 
places, but an occasional bed of limestone and numerous 
fragments of red ore containing fossils which belong to the 
Clinton fauna, show that the Trenton and the Red Mountain 
or Clinton groups of the upper Silurian formation have not 
been entirely removed in the erosion of the valley. 

Beyond the flint ridge just mentioned, we come, in going 
westward, again to the Cambrian strata, which, in a great 
measure, form the underlying beds of this second valley 
known as 'Possum Valley. Across it we come to a third 
fault which brings this Cambrian formation in contact with 
overlying beds, such as Trenton, Clinton, Sub- Carbonifer- 
ous, and Coal Measures ; for the fault does not by any means 




SKCTION N.W. AND S.E. FROM WARRIOR TO COOSA COAl. FIKM) IN THK VKMMty OF BIRMINGHAM 

( nearly alone" line K.K oC map ) 

showing slruolui'c of Jones' Valley-Cahaba Coal Field -Cfiliaba Valley and pari of Coosa Coal Field 



iWappiopCoal Held! %()|k>sshiii Vallr 



■^ 




f'oiU Mt'asuii's 

Oxmoop SiiiulMloiic find Sluilos I . , ,, , .,. 

.Siil)_(. ai-boiiitrrous 
I'ossililci'Dus Clierl iI'diI I'.iyiicii 

[ I 15 lack Shale J)cvoiii.iii 

IS^'-Sl Kod MoiiittainC Union 

l^^i Ti*enton Ijinrslonc 

■-^-^ - Knox Dolonulc 

Krd Lands I 

Coosa VaUi\Y or Klalvvoods sha^v lancstoncs — Cambrian 



IJr.l Ml SIm(1c.sI| Valley! 



Cahaba Coal Field 



Cahaba Valley 



nOKIZONTAJ, SCAI.I-; •Vi.lli* ixcil TO THK MILK OK 
I lACII - TOifO I'KKT 

yKKTiCAr, scAi.K TwicK rill-; hokizontai. ou 

I INCH =,!r>l'0 KKKT 





(■.,..sn ( oM iv 


rid 


a = 


NoHli Mi>>blaiuls_('<nu 


l.-rv Kul^. 


b , 


Biiniin^hiuii- 




<■ = 


South IligliUtiids 




<l = 


Kcd Moiinliiiii 




(■ = 


Sbadrs Cirrk 




r _ 


Shades Aloinilaiii 




i = 


Cahaba Hivcr 




ii _ 


Andcrso.. MouMlaii. 




i - 


l.illW-OaU Mountain 




.) = 


Hi,; Oak Mounlnin 




U . 


Double- Mountain 





**«* 



YALLEY REGION DETAILS ; CAHABA VALLEY. 163 

run strictly parallel to the strike or outcrop of the rocks, 
but runs in a sinuous line now into the very edge of the Coal 
Measures, now out into the valley so as to leave some of the 
strata underlying the Coal Measures between the Cambrian 
and the Warrior Field. As in the preceding cases, the beds 
immediately to the northwest of the fault usually stand at a 
high angle, sometimes vertical, while in places they hare 
been pushed even past the vertical so as to be reversed. 

On the northwestern side of the valley nearly its whole 
length, we find the first beds of the Warrior Coal Field, in 
this nearly vertical position, making a rock wall, through 
which the streams have cut their way at a few points, by 
deep and narrow gorges. 

In cases where the strata bordering a fault are tilted up 
at these very high angles, it rarely happens that the full 
thickness of the beds concerned is present, but some are 
pinched out almost completely, others appear in full force, 
while still others are seen in exceptional thickness. Where 
beds of coal are among the strata, the thickness is nearly 
always found to be extremely variable, the beds thinning 
down to a few inches and thickening up to several feet 
within a distance of a few yards. 

There is hardly a place along the western side of Jones' 
Valley where these irregularities are not to be seen. At 
North Birmingham, in one place, the Cambrian of the valley 
is, by the regular fault on that side, brought in contact with 
the upper part of the Knox Dolomite. Now we should 
expect to find beyond these beds of Knox Dolomite, first th® 
Trenton, then the Clinton, the Black Shale, and Sub-Car- 
boniferous, then the Measures of the Warrior Field ; and 
very often such a succession of the beds does actually occur; 
but at the point named, the Knox Dolomite is in immediate 
contact on that side with the Coal Measures, the interven- 
ing strata above enumerated, having been pinched out or 
engulfed in a second fault. 

Cahaba Valley. 

This is the name given to the valley which separates the 
Coosa from the Cahaba Coal Field, and under this name it 
extends from near Odenville to Montevallo, but its con- 



164 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAJ4A. 

tinuation may be followed as far as Centerville. Like most 
of the valleys of similar nature in Alabama, it is complex, i. e., 
made up of one or more subordinated valleys with ridges be- 
tween them. One of these valleys, lying between the chert 
ridge of the Knox Dolomite and the edge of the Cahaba Field, 
is known as 'Possum Valley; the other lying between the chert 
of Knox Dolomite and Little Oak Mountain is in the Cahaba 
Yalley proper. In the Cahaba Valley (taken in its widest 
■ense) there are the representatives of all the Paleozoic 
rocks above named, from Cambrian to the Coal Measures. 
Its two borders are made by the rocks of the Cahaba Field 
on the one side, and by those of the Coosa on the other, from 
its upper end near Odenville down to Siluria, while beyond 
that the Sub-Carboniferous beds of the Coosa Field make 
its southeastern border, since the Coal Measures of that 
field do not extend further south than the place named. 
Most of the strata in this valley dip towards the southeast 
at varying rates, from which it would be reasonably inferred 
that its structure is that of an anti-clinal fold closely com- 
pressed and pushed over towards the northwest, or of an 
anticlinal fold and thrust fault combined. In the former 
case, we should, in crossing the valley, pass over the strata 
from Coal Measures of the Coosa Field to the Cambrian in 
succession, beyond which should follow the same formations 
again, only in reverse order, to the Measures of the Cahaba 
Coal Field. 

The diagram already referred to, as well as the examina- 
tion of the map will show, that the whole valley is made by 
one-half of a fold only, and the succession of the rocks from 
the Coosa Field is as follows : Coal Measures, Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, Black Shale, Trenton, Chert ridge and red lands of 
the Knox Dolomite and Cambrian, immediately following 
which are the Measures of the Cahaba Field, a great fault in- 
tervening between the Cambrian and Coal Measures. By 
this fault the Cambrian strata on the southeast side have 
been pushed up and over the upturned edges of the Cam- 
brian, Silurian, Devonian, and Sub-Carboniferous on the 
northwest side, into direct contact with the upper measures 
of the Cahaba Field, a displacement of perhaps more than 
10,000 feet vertical, and greater than that of any other fault 



YALLEY REGION DETAILS; CAHABA VALLEY. 165 

known to us in Alabama. Northwest of this fault, as we 
have already intimated, all the formations between the Cam- 
brian and the Coal Measures are below the surface being 
engulfed in the fault. The beds of the Coal Measures next 
to the fault are very highly inclined, standing mostly nearly 
in vertical position while sometimes they have been pushed 
over beyond the perpendicular. The narrow belt of vertical 
measures borders the Cahaba Field along its entire south- 
eastern and southern boundary. We should naturally ex- 
pect the strata in these vertical measures to correspond 
with those that have not been disturbed further in towards 
the center of the field, since they are only the upturned 
edges of the same beds ; but Mr. Squire has generally been 
unable to identify the vertical coal seams, for the reason 
that in the faulting the strata have been so crushed and dis- 
placed that the seams no longer retain their characteristic 
qualities, thickness, relative position, etc., some of the 
measures having been pinched out, and others having been 
correspondinly thickend up. This, in general terms, is the 
structure of the valley from its northern limit to Siluria, 
and even down to Montevallo. 

In more detail, its topographical and geological features 
are as follows : The southeastern rim of the valley is made 
by the high escarpment of the Millstone grit of the Coosa 
Field known as Big Oak Mountain. This ledge of rock dips 
southeast under the Coal Measures of the Coosa Field, but 
is brought to the surface again in the Double Mountains, by- 
a fault that extends through the lower part of the field. 

Between Big Oak Mountain and Little Oak, which is 
formed by the chert of the Sub-Carboniferous formation, 
there is a valley of varying width formed by the Oxmoor 
shales of the same formation. The sandstones which ac- 
company these shales, form one or more small ridges be- 
tween Little and Big Oak Mountains, and in some parts of 
the valley this sandstone extends a good way up the face of 
Big Oak, and then the Millstone grit forms only the capping 
of the mountain. Little Oak is the counterpart of the Red 
Mountain, but the Clinton strata appear to be entirely want- 
ing except in two or three places shown on the map. 

To the northwestward of Little Oak Mountain comes a 



166 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

ralley underlaid by the Trenton or Pelham limestone, 
which is here remarkably well developed, and extensively 
quarried to supply the lime kilns at Siluria and Longview. 
This lime is the well known Shelby lime. 

Beyond this Trenton limestone valley, which is the 
Cahaba Yalley proper, towards the northwest comes a high 
ridge formed of the chert of Knox Dolomite, known in its 
di£ferent parts as New Hope Mountain, Mill Ridge, Pine 
Bidge, and Anderson Mountain. 

Next follows a valley based upon calcareous parts of the 
Knox Dolomite and the variegated shales of the Cambrian. 
This has the name of 'Possum Valley, and as we approach 
its northwestern edge we find the strata gradually assuming 
a steeper dip up to the edge of the great fault spoken of 
above, and beyond this fault are the vertical measures of the 
Cahaba Field. It may be noticed here as almost every- 
where else that the dip of the strata on the southeast side 
of one of these thrust fault is usually considerably less than 
on the northwestern side, where they frequently stand 
nearly vertical. This is in conformity with the law of 
structure that prevails through the whole Appalachian 
region, viz., the steeper dip is on the northwestern side of 
the folds and faults, except where there has been an under- 
dhoving of the strata, as is the case in Murphree's Valley. 
Beyond the fault, the measures very rapidly flatten down to 
% moderate rate of dip, which is mostly towards the south- 
east, showing that taken as a whole this upper part of the 
Cahaba Field is a synclinal basin, the axis of which is very 
•lose to its southeastern boundary. The southeastern half 
of this synclinal is partly engulfed in the great fault, for 
there is usually not room enough between the axis of the 
synclinal and the boundary fault for the whole thickness of 
the Measures to come in, even in vertical position. 

Southward of the latitude of Siluria the coal-bearing 
measures of the Coosa Field give out, but the underlying 
Sub-Carboniferous strata continue as far as the limits of 
this map, and beyond even, till they are completely hidden 
below the Cretaceous beds of the Tuscaloosa formation. 
This southward prolongation of the Coosa Field is made 
chiefly by the Ox moor shales and sandstones, which, 



VALLEY REGION DETAILS; CAHABA VALLEY. 167 

especially the former, attain very considerable thickness and 
underlie a wide area, Beds of limestone are very generally 
interstratified-with these shales. 

By referring to the map it will be seen that the Cahaba 
Valley in its upper part runs nearly northeast and south- 
west, but below Helena it turns nearly southward to Monte- 
vallo, while beyond the latter point the edge of the Cahaba 
Field turns nearly west, as does also to some extent the 
Sub-Carboniferous border of the valley on the other side. 
These changes in the direction of the folds, bring about com- 
plications of the structure, as may be seen in the formation 
of a great number of subordinate basins in this part of the 
Cahaba Field ; in the faulted and overturned measures west 
of Montevallo ; in the faulting and duplication of the Cam- 
brian and Silurian strata in the valley between Montevallo 
and Centerville ; in the formation of a synclinal of Trenton, 
Eed Mountain, Devonian and Sub-Carboniferous strata in 
the vicinity of Pratt's Ferry. 

The uppermost beds exposed in this synclinal are the 
Oxmoor shales which are seen in the basin of the "Moun- 
tain," which, beginning a mile below Pratt's Ferry, extends 
in V shape for several miles towards the southwest. The 
point of this mountain or apex of the Y overhangs the river* 
The dip of the northwest side is moderate towards the south- 
east, while the strata on the southeast side are almost ver- 
tical, following the usual law. The crest of the mountain is 
formed by the Fort Payne Sub-Carboniferous chert, while 
upon its flanks are to be seen the underlying rocks down to 
the Trenton. Below the chert there are sandstones and 
shales that we have referred to the Clinton or Red Moun- 
tain, though we have no fossils nor any of the red iron ore 
to determine the matter, a 

The Trenton rocks underlying this Sub-Carboniferous 
basin emerge from below it, both towards the northeast and 
to the southwest, but more rapidly in the last named direc- 
tion. Towards the northeast the Trenton belt may be fol- 

a Some red ore which occurs a mile or two to the northwest of th« 
"Mountain," appears to belong to a bed lying between the uppermost 
of the Knox Dolomite and the lowermost of the Trenton. At least 
such is its position at one locality where all these beds may be clearly 
made out, and their ages distinguished by the fossils which they hold. 



168 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

lowed for a considerable distance, gradually merging into a 
fault which cuts into it in the direction of Montevallo. 

One of the most important results of this disposition of 
the rocks is to bring to the surface a great area of Trenton 
limestone with very gentle dip, except at the southeastern 
edge of the basin, all along the river for several miles each 
way from Pratt's Ferry. Much of this limestone is of very 
great purity, and is capable of receiving a fine polish, and it 
will undoubtedly very soon come into use for building and 
ornamental purposes. 

That part of the valiey below Montevallo differs slightly 
in structure from the upper part. Starting at the Sub- 
Carboniferous measures which here form its southeastern 
border we pass over a valley of Trenton limestone, then over 
a wide area of Knox Dolomite, three or four miles, chiefly 
cherty lands, into a belt about a mile wide of the Cambrian 
shales of the Montevallo type. Then comes a fault by which 
the Knox Dolomite is again brought to the surface. This nar- 
row belt of the Knox Dolomite runs out entirely in township 
24, range 11, east, but at the base of the map in township 24, 
range 10, it is perhaps half a mile wide. The southeastern 
edge of this belt of Knox Dolomite has a nearly vertical 
position, and, together with part of the Trenton, forms the 
edge of the synclinal above named. 

In the upper part of the valley down to about the upper 
line of township 22, the edge of the coal field runs approxi- 
mately parallel to the strike of the rocks exposed in the 
valley, but below the point named this is not the case, for 
the strata of the Montevallo shales that are in contact with 
the vertical measures of the Cahaba Field through township 
22, and the upper part of township 24, have a strike nearly 
northeast and southwest while the edge of the coal field runs 
nearly north and south ; the Cambrian strata appear to run 
up against the Coal Measures at an acute angle ; and while 
the border of the Cahaba Field above Montevallo runs nearly 
north and south, changing abruptly at Montevallo to nearly 
east and west, the strike of the older rocks remains ap- 
proximately the same, i. e., nearly northeast and southwest. 
At the apex of the right angle formed in this change of di- 
rection, a little southwest of Montevallo, near Thompson's 




< < 



VALLEY REGION DETAILS ; COOSA COAL FIELD. 169 

Mill on Shoal Creek, there is one of the most interesting 
sections known to me. Here may be seen a bed of coal 
three or four feet in thickness, in nearly horizontal position, 
with the shaly limestones of the Montevallo series resting 
directly upon it. The accomyanying view from a photograph 
shows this very clearly. Mr. Squire has shown that the 
Coal Measures along this part of the field have been over- 
turned, and the bottom fireclay is in every case on top of 
the seam. In the faulting, therefore, not only has a large 
strip of the Coal Measures been pushed over, but the Cam- 
brian strata have been slipped up and over these reversed 
beds. 

The map does not show very clearly the manner in 
which the Cambrian passes around the apex of this angle 
of Coal Measures, for in reality these older measures seem 
to lap up upon the angle of ^he Coal Field in a series of great 
parallel waves like breakers upon an exposed point of the 
shore. These waves do not accommodate themselves to 
the turn in the boundary of the Coal Field by bending 
round, as might be inferred from the arrangement of the 
colors on the map, but they keep their original direction, 
(northeast and southwest), on the two sides of the salient 
angle, just as waves pass an obstruction. 

All along the Cahaba Valley and its extension southward 
and southwestward of Montevallo, the area formed by the 
Knox Dolomite is characterized by the occurrence of beds 
of brown iron ore or limonite that in many places are des- 
tined to be af great economic value. 

For lack of means of transportation, only one furnace has 
up to the present time been built to utilize these ores. 
CoosA Coal Field. 

The structure of the Coosa Coal Field does not at this 
time particularly concern us, but the portion of it included 
in the map shows that it is divided into two parts by a fault 
which brings up some of the Sub-Carboniferous shales be- 
tween the two. This belt of shales varies in width from 
half a mile upwards, and the amount of displacement is not 
very great, since it extends only from the lower part of the 
shales up to the Millstone grit. Mr. McCalley's report will 
give a tolerably full account of the structure of this field. 



170 geological survey op alabama. 

Jones' and Roup's Valley. 

An inspection of the map will show that the long valley 
separating the Cahaba from the Warrior Coal Field, is much 
more complicated in its structure than the valley between 
the Coosa and Cahaba Fields. 

Like the Cahaba Valley, this has essentially an anticlinal 
structure, and like that valley, this structure is somewhat 
masked by faulting ; but in addition to this we can trace out 
in every part of this valley, two anticlinal folds separated 
by a synclinal. Almost everywhere in the valley the anti- 
clinal folds have been pushed over towards the northwest in 
accordance with the general law of Appalachian structure, 
and the axes of the folds are close to their northwestern 
edges. In the synclinal we find its axis near the south- 
eastern edge, as is the case in the upper part of the Cahaba 
Coal Field. 

There are two classes of exceptions to this general plan 
of structure noticed in Jones' Valley. First, where the anti- 
clinal is nearly symmetrical, and the strata on the two sides 
of it dip in opposite directions at approximately the same 
angle. One instance of this may be seen in the valley between 
McAshan Mountain and East Red Mountain, and another in 
the upper part of the valley west of Springville, in Clayton's 
Cove and northeastward ; both of which will be more par- 
ticularly described in another place. In these cases also 
the crest of the anticlinal is unbroken , while everywhere 
else the crests are marked by thrust faults. 

The second class of exception to the general plan of 
structure is seen in those cases where the strata dip towards 
the northwest, and the fault is found along the southeastern 
border of the arches, making what we have spoken of above 
as a reversed thrust fault. Two well marked instances of 
this class of exception occur in Jones' Valley ; one being 
west of McAshan Mountain, the other being in the north- 
eastern part of the region of the present map ; but the most 
important instance is in Murphree's Valley, a The case of 

a To Mr. A. A. Gibson belongs the credit of first calling attention to 
this type of structure in Alabama. In his report on Murphree's Valley, 
now in manuscript and soon to be published, will be found full details 
of the typical locality. 



TILLEY REGION DETAILS ; SHADES VALLEY. 171 

McAshan Mountain will be considered further on, but we 
may conveniently now describe the occurrence in township 
15, range 1, east, along the northeastern border of the 
valley. Here, not far from the line of the A. G. S. R. R., 
there is a fault along which on the northwestern side the 
strata of the Knox Dolomite with moderate northwesterly 
dip, are in contact with the strata of the Sub-Carboniferous 
of the Cahaba Field on the southeast, with nearly vertical 
position or with very high southeasterly dip. 

This is the reverse of the usual order of things, and may 
be explained as already shown upon the supposition that 
the fold, instead of having had its crest pushed over towards 
the northwest, has had the trough sJioved under from the 
southeast side. At the lower end of this fold in the north- 
west corner of township 16, range 1, east, its anticlinal 
character is more apparent. Beyond this fold to the north- 
west, we see a synclinal with Sub-Carboniferous chert and 
Oxmoor shales, as the uppermost beds, and this is followed 
in the same direction by a simple anticlinal and then by 
the synclinal of Blount Mountain (Coal Measures), north- 
east part of township 15, range 1, west, and beyond that the 
anticlinal of Murphree's Valley not shown in the limits of 
this map. Southwest from the end of this Blount Mountain 
synclinal of the Coal Measures we see the underlying beds 
gradually coming to the surface in the order, Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, Devonian, Red Mountain, Trenton, and Knox Dolo- 
mite. The upper formations involved in this synclinal from 
the Sub-Carboniferous to the Trenton, do not extend many 
miles below the end of the Blount Mountain, but the syncli- 
nal of the Knox Dolomite may be followed down nearly to 
Bessemer. It makes all that ridgy land between Chalkville 
and Hagood's Cross Roads, the flint ridge of the North 
Highlands about Birmingham, and its continuation down to 
the old Smith place near Bessemer. Indeed, with certain 
modifications it may be followed almost the entire length of 
this map. 

From Trussville down to the lower end of Jefferson 
county, in the southeast part of township 20, range 5, west, 
the feature that perhaps most strikes the eye is the wide 
valley based on the upper rocks of the Sub-Carboniferous, 



172 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMl. 

yiz., the Oxmoor shales and sandstones, lying between the 
edge of the Cahftba Field and the East Red Mountain. 
This valley is in great part drained by Shades Creek and is 
known as Shades Valley. Its abnormal width is due to the 
undulations in the strata, since the Sub-Carboniferous beds 
are no thicker here than in other parts of this valley where 
the width is much less. These undulations are accompanied 
by faults in some parts of Shades Valley, as for instance be- 
tween Oxmoor and Grace's Gap, but these displacements 
have not yet been traced out with sufficient detail to permit 
of their being properly mapped. 

Shades Valley is diversified by long ridges formed by the 
sandstones of the formation, and it is usual to find a very 
distinct and persistent ridge near the western edge of the 
valley formed by sandstones that occur near the base of the 
formation. Limestones occur in these shales, as has been 
already noted, and in one place near Oxmoor this rock has 
been quarried. 

The next following topographic feature to the northwest 
of Shades Valley, and by far the most important one in the 
region, from an economic standpoint, is the Red Mountain. 
In the lower part of the area shown on the map, i. e., below 
the crossing of the Cahaba Coal Company's railroad, the 
Red Mountain does not form a conspicuous topographic 
feature, as it is rather low and in many places covered by 
the sands and other beds of the Tuscaloosa formation. 
Above the point named, it begins to assume, at least in 
places, the dimensions of a mountain, and so it continues 
with constantly increasing height and importance almost to 
the upper limit of the map. I shall not attempt here to 
speak in detail of the variations observed in the strata of 
Red Mountain, nor to give sections across it, since the re- 
port of Mr. McCalley, soon to be published, will fully treat 
of this part of the subject. Most of the mines at present in 
operation in the Red Mountain are found between Spark's 
Gap and Trussville, the greatest thickness of ore, about 
twenty feet, being about the middle part of this stretch of 
the mountain. Above Gate City, Red Mountain turns some- 
what away from the edge of the Cahaba Field, and the re- 
versed anticlinal above spoken of, comes in between the 



VALLEY REGION DETAILS ; SHADES VALLEY. 173 

two, and by this a synclinal is also formed in the Red 
Mountain strata. The Red Mountain has everywhere along 
its eastern flank a covering of the chert of the Sub-Carboni- 
ferous, and the Black Shale, which comes between the Clin- 
ton and the Sub-Carboniferous, while not always to be seen 
on account of its being very thin and easily eroded, is no 
doubt present in the majority of cases. On the western 
face of the Red Mountain, the Trenton limestone may al- 
ways be seen, sometimes near the base of the mountain, 
sometimes nearer the top, according to locality, and this 
rock is extensively quarried, notably at Gate City, where 
the lim-^stone extends up to the very top of the mountain, 
and the Clinton strata are all on the eastern flank of the 
same. This varying position of the Trenton is due to local 
causes, among which the occurrence of undulations running 
across the valley is perhaps the most effective. 

Next to the Red Mountain with its constituent formations, 
follows the Knox Dolomite, making first a belt of ridgy 
lands, seen in the South Highlands, and then the redlands 
with their gentle undulations and characteristic soils, as 
may be seen near Elyton and in some parts of the city of 
Birmingham itself. It is rarely that the strata of the Knox 
Dolomite appear in their original form so that their dip 
may be clearly recognized. Usually the formation is 
represented by great accumulations of loose fragments 
of chert, or by the red loams in which bedded rocks 
are rarely found. Loose angular fragments of chert 
imbedded in the red soil are however very common and 
characteristic. This eastermost belt of the Knox Dolomite 
rocks presents no special features. In the lower part of the 
map it is in great measure covered by the Tuscaloosa sands 
and clays, though cropping out in spots over a pretty wide 
area here. On account of the covering of these surface 
materials it has thus far been impossible to make out with 
certainty the structure of all this lower part of the map. 

In the upper part of the region covered by the map, we 
find a second wide and apparently continuous outcropping 
of the Knox Dolomite, I mean above Eastlake, up to the 
end of the Blount Mountain. This is due, as may have al- 
ready been inferred by the reader of the preceding para- 



174 dEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

graphs, to the Blount Mountain synclinal above spoken of, 
and to the fact that the fault which borders this synclinal 
on the eastern side extends with constantly diminishing 
amount of displacement, only a short distance beyond East- 
lake, where it gradually passes into the unbroken or un- 
faulted anticlinal of Clayton's Cove. In this way the Knox 
Dolomite of both anticlinal and synclinal are brought into 
juxtaposition, while further to the south, where the amount 
of displacement in the fault is greater, the two are separated 
by the belt of Cambrian Shales presently to be spoken of. 

Next to the Knox Dolomite, going slill across the valley, 
we come to the Cambrian formation, here represented by 
the Coosa Shales, a series of thin-bedded limestones with 
clay partings that make level, flat, badly drained lands with 
heavy impervious clay soils, commonly known as "Flat- 
woods." The flatwoods limestones are usually very much 
folded and contorted, and stand often nearly vertical, for 
which reason they were spoken of by Prof. Tuomey as th© 
vertical li mestones of the valley. We usually see the upturned 
edges of these limestone bands outcropping in the flatwoods 
in parallel rows, sometimes running without serious breaks 
for long distances. At McCalla Station, Bessemer, Powderly, 
and in parts of Birmingham, this limestone may be seen 
and easily recognized. These are the lowest in a geological 
sense, of the rocks brought up by the anticlinals and faults 
in our valleys, and are the oldest of the rocks of Alabama 
about whose age we can be perfectly sure. In a regular 
symmetrical anticlinal, in which these Cambrian strata 
were exposed by erosion, they would, as a matter of course, 
occupy the central area, and this is in reality the case in 
that part cf the valley between McCalla Station and Tan- 
nehill ; but in the far more common case, where the anti- 
clinal is pushed over to the northwest and the steeper slop© 
occurs on that side, and still more plainly, where a break 
occurs along the crest of the anticlinal and the strata on 
the southeastern side are slipped up over those on the 
northwestern, the Cambrian strata are to be found no longer 
in the geographical center of the valley, but far over on its 
northwestern side. 

The Cambrian belt above described, thus marks the limit 



VALLEY REGION DETAILS ; SHADES VALLEY. 175 

of the first anticliDal of the valley, and adjacent to it towards 
the west but separated from it by a fault, is the flint ridge 
of the North Highlands, (Knox Dolomite). As we have al- 
ready said this ridge is in structure a synclinal, with the 
axis close to the southeastern border, and with most of the 
strata on that side of the axis overridden and concealed by 
the Cambrian of the other side of the fault, a case exactly 
analogous to what we have seen along the southeastern 
border of the Cahaba Coal Field. In the fault above spoken 
of the adjacent halves of the anticlinal of Jones' Valley and 
of the synclinal of the flint ridge, are engulfed more or less 
completely, though we commonly find along the eastern 
face of the flint ridge a narrow belt of vertical or nearly ver- 
tical rocks which belong to the synclinal, and are the only 
remnants of its eastern half. As is the case on the corres- 
ponding side of the Cahaba Field, these vertical measures 
very rapidly flatten down and begin to rise on the other dip, 
BO that the center or axis of the anticlinal is very close to 
this eastern edge. 

As the name indicates, this ridge is formed mostly of the 
flint or chert of the Knox Dolomite, but there may be found 
at intervals between East Lake and Bessemer, traces of the 
rocks of other overlying formations, Trenton and Clinton, 
showing that these were also involved in the foldings, but 
have in great measure been removed by denudation. 

Upon this flint ridge at several points, and beyond Besse- 
mer in the Salem Hills, we see great masses of a peculiar 
rock, made up of angular fragments of the chert of Knox 
Dolomite cemented together into a firm and compact rock. 
This breccia is at the top of the Knox Dolomite, or perhaps 
it would be better to say, at the base of the next higher 
series, the Trenton, since it is made of fragments of the 
Knox Dolomite, and must therefore be younger. 

This flint ridge is a marked feature of Jones' Valley, and 
extends without serious break from near Village Creek at 
Birmingham, to Valley Creek near Bessemer. Northeast of 
the former creek it is seen again, and southwest of Valley 
Creek it appears in the Salem Hills. At the two places 
mentioned the ridge is cut by the creeks, down through a 
good part of the chert of the Knox Dolomite into the red 



176 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 

lands of the same formation, and the continuity of the ridge 
is interrupted. We have already intimated that in a modi- 
fied form the synclinal of Blount Mountain is the continua- 
tion of this. 

Going northwest beyond the flint ridge we pass over the 
strata of the red lands of the Knox Dolomite, then over a 
second belt of Cambrian, all dipping back below the ridge, 
and rising to the northwest into the second anticlinal, here 
called 'Possum Valley. The summit of this anticlinal, like 
that of Jones' Yalley, marks the line of another thrust fault 
similar to that of the flint ridge, though much more irregu- 
lar in its course, for while, along the border of the flint ridge, 
the fault brings the Cambrian as a rule in contact with the 
chert of the Knox Dolomite, with here and there an excep- 
tion where it is brought up against Trenton and Clinton, in 
this second fault the Cambrian is brought up in contact 
with Knox Chert, with Trenton, with Clinton, with Sub- 
Carboniferous, and even with the measures of the Warrior 
Field. This fault hence shows a much greater variation in 
the amount of displacement than the one first named and 
described. This may be made clearer by reference to the 
section above referred to, and to the map. This fault runs 
along nearly parallel to the line of the Birmingham Mineral 
Railroad above Boyle's, up into Murphree's Valley. Above 
the line of the South & North Alabama Railroad, it will be 
seen that the fault is at some distance from the edge of th« 
Warrior Field, and that strips of the following formations 
intervene between the two, viz., Knox Dolomite, Trenton, 
Clinton and Sub-Carboniferous, and that the fault passes 
from the western side of 'Possum Valley across to the 
eastern side of Murphree's Valley. As we approach Boyle's 
Gap, the width of the belt of intervening measures decreasei^ 
some of the formations seem to be pinched out completely 
others seem to be partly cut out, and none of them retain 
their full characters. The diagram (cross-section) shows 
the whole series from the Knox Dolomite up to the Sub- 
Carboniferous as intervening between the fault and the edge 
of the Warrior Field, which is in reality the case in some 
places, but we need only to examine the map to see how the 
fault runs irregularly along the border of the Warrior Field, 



VALLEY REGION DETAILS; SHADES VALLEY. 177 

now lapping up in contact with the rocks of the Coal 
Measures, now trending further out into the valley, leaving 
the upturned edges of the whole series from Knox Dolomite 
up, between. 

West of Bessemer we see a rather complicated spot where 
the Red Mountain rocks attain a considerable development, 
which will be understood better by a study of the map than 
by any description in words. 

As may be inferred from the map, the Red Mountain on 
this western side of the valley is rather fragmentary, and of 
little value as compared with the same formation on the 
other side, east of Birmingham. Above Boyle's Gap it be- 
comes more regular and of greater economic importance. 
It need hardly be repeated that the strata of all the forma- 
tions to the west of this second fault, stand at very high 
angles, often being perpendicular, and at times being pushed 
over past the vertical so as to dip back towards the south- 
east. The millstone grit of the Warrior Field may nearly 
always be seen as a ledge of nearly vertical rocks forming, 
most the whole length of tbe valley, a wall, beyond which 
we come in a few hundred yards to almost horizontal 
measures, showing that the disturbance affects to any great 
degree, only the extreme edge of the field. Parallel with 
this rock wall of the Millstone grit, we usually find another 
wall of vertical rocks, with a narrow valley intervening. 
This wall is formed by the Sub-Carboniferous sandstone of 
the Oxmoor series. The line of the faalt may easily be 
traced by the ledges of vertical or nearly vertical rocks that 
lie to the northwest of it. Such, then, is the structure of the 
valley in all the upper half of the map, or above the latitude 
of Bessemer. Below that there are some important varia- 
tions which have in part been referred to. 

The variations from the above named structure are to be 
seen in the area through which the McAshan Mountains ex- 
tends. This mountain is a Red Mountain ridge composed 
of the three formations, Clinton, Black Shale, and Sub-Car- 
boniferous chert, with Trenton limestone on its eastern face. 
Beyond this mountain and across a fault, we find a repeti- 
tion of the same beds, a second Red Mountain, in its normal 
place as regards the Warrior Coal Field. 
12 



178 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

Althougli SO entirely different in topography and in gen- 
eral appearance, this part of the valley is itself also formed 
by a double anticlinal with synclinal between, as may be 
seen from the following description ; proceeding from the 
eastern Red Mountain near McOalla Station towards the 
northwest across the valley, we pass first over a regular 
symmetrical anticlinal, the central line of which, marked by 
the outcrop of the belt of Cambrian rocks, is near the center 
of the valley, and is the formation upon which the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad track is laid, from Tannehill up. 
McAshan Mountains is the counterpart of the eastern Red 
Mountain on the other side of the anticlinal, its strata dip- 
ping to the northwest as the beds of the eastern mountain 
dip to the southeast. On the other side of McAshan, 
however, we come to the fault mentioned, and the beds of 
the McAshan appear to dip northwest under the Kuox 
Dolomite on the other side of the fault, showing that we 
have here again au instance of thrust fault in which the 
strata on the southeast side have been sJioved tinder those on 
the northwest side. 

Southwest of the end of the McAshan Mountain we see 
again a recurrei ce to the usual type of structure in this 
valley, viz., an overlap of the strata on the southeast side 
upon those to the northwest of the fault. As we have said, 
however, the geological structure in this lower part of the 
region of the map is not always to be clearly made out, for 
the reason that it is not possible to trace out the outcrops 
of the different formations because of the great mass of over- 
lying and more recent beds of the Cretaceous. The central 
part of the valley in this latitude is so generally covered by 
these beds that we can only indicate here and there the 
points where the uuderljing rocks are uncovered. 

In the vicinity of Woodstock there appear to be two areas 
of Cambrian rocks, the one at the station itself, where the 
shaly limestones have been exposed iu the cut made by the 
Cahaba Coal Company for their railroad, and the other a 
mile or two to the north, along the line of tl:e Birmingham 
Mineral Railroad, just beyond the Edwards ore banks. The 
region between the two, so far as we are in condition to 
judge, is occupied by Knox Dolomite. 



TALLEY REGION DETAILS ; SHADES VALLEY. 179 

It may be that the structure here is similar to that of th« 
valley about Birmingham. In a cut on the Birmingham 
Mineral Railroad, just beyond the Edwards ore banks, the 
Cambrian limestone and shales have been laid bare, and ex- 
hibit one of the most perfect examples of the contortions 
and foldings into which it is possible to throw solid rocks. 
The limestones have boen pressed together into a number 
of close folds, as perfectly and completely as one could do it 
•with a bundle of sheets of paper. The edges of these folded 
limestone layers are seen in zig-zag lines all along on both 
sides of a cut of forty or fifty feet in length. These layers 
of limestone are quite pure and have been used in making 
lime which slakes very well, showing that it is of very good 
quality. Now, while at the base of the cut and for ten feet 
or so above the level of the track, the limestone is quite 
fresh, and unweathered, it passes very suddenly iuto a yel- 
lowish stratified clay in which may be followed perfectly all 
the lines of folding of the limestone itself, as if the upper 
part of the limestone, near the outcrop, and where long sub- 
jected to the action of the atmosplieric agencies, had been 
converted into the clajey matter. If the limestone were im- 
pure and charged with clayey material, we might suppose 
that the calcareous matter was leached out and the alumi- 
nous p irt left, but the limestone is pare enough to afford 
good, thoroughly slaking lime, so that the whole appearance 
is as though the limestone had been removed by leaching 
agencies, and its place taken by a sandy chiy. We should 
in any case expect to find a gradual transition from the one 
kind of material to the other, but as I have said, the change 
is rather abrupt. 

The strata of the Red Mountain may be followed with' 
some interruption from opposite Woodstock down to Vance's 
on the west side of the valley. 

The fault which occurs on this side of the valley appears 
to run in and out approximately parallel to the edge of the 
Coal Field, now leaving a pretty full series of strata between 
it and the Coal Field, now lapping up almost upon the beds 
of the latter, by pinching out or engulfing the intermediate 
formations. 

West of Vance's we see a narrow anticlinal fold which 



180 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP ALABAMA. 

runs a short distance up into the Coal Field and separates 
a small strip of synclinal structure from the main body of 
the Coal Field. This synclinal extends southwestward as 
far the limits of the map, with Sub-Carboniferous and Clin- 
ton rocks, the Coal Measures ending at about the latitude 
of Vance's station. The Clinton strata of this synclinal are 
much broken up and appear to be pinched out in places. 
The red ore occurs in the vicinity of Vance's, at one or two 
points southwest of the station, and in the railroad cut two 
miles west of the station. Further to the southwest than 
the points named, the Clinton is represented by sandstones 
and conglomerates alone, and the red ore seems to be 
wanting. 

The anticlinal fold above spoken of is faulted near its 
central line, and the rim of the Clinton rocks which would 
normally run along the western side of the anticlinal has 
been cut out by the fault with the exception of a small 
remnant seen in the railroad cut above mentioned. By the 
fault a strip of Knox Dolomite has cut out about half of the 
anticlinal as shown on the map. To the northeast of the 
railroad the anticlinal is occupied only by the Oxmoor 
Shales of the Sub-Carboniferous. In addition to the great 
fault above noticed there is a smaller one which shows in 
the railroad cut to the west of the trestle over the branch 
of Hurricane Creek. This structure will be more easily un- 
derstood from a study of the map than from the reading of 
a description. The superficial beds of the Tuscaloosa for- 
mation overlying all the older rocks makes it extremely 
difficult, and in some cases impossible, to determine with 
certainty the structure of the lower part of the valley south 
of Vance's. 



INDEX. 



PAGR. 

Acton Basin — Area ^9 

Boundary 39 

Estimate of coal in 4C 

Sections of 44 

Situation 3S 

Structure 3^ 

Variations of dip of measures of 45 

Action Seam —Acton basin, section o£ 43^ 

Air Shaft Seam Daily creek basin 108 

Lolley basin 87 

Montevallo basin 92-94 

Analyses Ash— Mammoth seam, Kenryellen basin 38 

Gholson seam, Dailey creek basin IW 

Coals — Conglomerate seam, Eiareka basin 72 

Helena s am, Helena basin 59 

Lemley seam, Overturned Measures ... . 102 

Little Pittsburgh, Eureka basin 72 

Mammoth seam , Henryellen basin 31-32. 

Montevallo seam, Montevallo basin 94 

Moyle seam, Eureka basin 72 

Thompson seam. Eureka basin 72 

Underwood seam, Blocton basin 115 

Wadsworth seam , Eureka basin 75 

Helena basin 60 

Woodstock seam, Blocton basin 115 

Cokes — Mammoth seam, Henryellen basin 38 

Wadsworth seam, Cahaba basin 65 

Woodstock seam, Blocton basin 116 

Anthracite sjstem of mining 118-119 

Bangor limestone 155 

Basins in Cahaba field 11 

Acton . . 39 

Blocton Ill 

Cahaba 01 

Dailey creek 103 

Dry creek 74 

Eureka 68 

Gould 78 

Helena 47 

Henryellen , 20^ 

Lolley i . i i . . : I . . . 85 



182 INDEX. 

BASINS IN CAHA.13A FIELD-Continued; 

Monlevallo 90 

Overtnrnecl Mpasnres 95 

Beebe seam in Overtnruecl Measures 96, 99, 100 

Beech Tree seam, Bloctou basia 114 

Dailey creek basin 107 

Big Falls, Lolley basia 89 

Big Vein (s^am), Dailej creek basin 106 

Birmingham Breccia 152 

Black Fireclay Seam — Dailey creek basin 108 

Lnlley basin (section of) 88 

11 jDtevallo basin 92-94 

Black Shale Formations 154 

Black Shale or Gholson Seam — Dry creek basin 76 

Eur* ka basin 69-70 

Helena basin, section 53 

analyses of coko from. 59 

Blocton Basin — Area 113 

Boundaries Ill 

Dip of Measures 116 

Drain.ige 112 

Estimate of coal in 113' 

Faults 113 

Synclinals antl anticLnals in 116 

Roads in 112 

Topography 112 

Brock Seam — Cahaba basin ; 63 

Back Seam — Dry creek basin 76 

Eureka basin : 69-70 

Helena baJn (section of) 52 

Cahaba Basin— Area 62 

Boundaries 51 

Drainage 62 

Estimate of thickness of measures 62 

General section across 62 

Eoads 61 

Situation 61 

Topogr iphj' 62 

Varying rate of dip . 65 

Cahaba Field — Aggrei^ate thickness of measures of 14 

Amount of coal in 13 

Area .... 13 

Basins of 13 

Conglomerates at top of measures of 4 

Counties in -which mea>^ures occur 17 

Division of coals into four groups 14 

Drainage 6-7 

Faults in ... 15 

General description 3 

History of mining in 18 



INDEX. 183 

CAHABA FIELD- Continued. 

Limestone ledge in 4 

Overturned measures of 15 

Eate of dip of measures 17 

KesembLince of measures of to those of Arkansas and 

Indian Territory . . 5 

Koads 10,11,12 

Sections i!lu<?trating structure of 13-14 

Smnll amount of sulpLur in co,ds 5 

Cahaba Field— SimiLirily of measures to those of Warrior Field 3 

Thickness of measures 5 

Topography G-7-8-9 

Cahaba Valley— General desciiption lf>3 

Geolo^i^al and structural details 165 

Cannel Seam in Overturned Measures 97-99 

Carboniferous Formation —Subdivisions of 155 

Chocci locco Shales I'i9 

Clark Seam- Dailey Creek basin 106-107-109 

Clean Coal Seam — Dailey Creek basin 107 

Clinton Formation described 153 

Coal Measures of the three Alabama fields once continuous 157 

Coke Oven Seam— Helena basia 51 

Cahaba basin 65 

Coke Seam — Dniley Creek basin 106 

Blocton basin 114 

Combination Method of Mining 122-123 

Conglomerate Seam — Analysis of coal 72 

Dailey Creek basin 108 

Etireka neam 69-70 

Helena basin 55 

Henryellen basin, identical with Thompson 

seam and Underwood seam 27 

Lolley basin 85 

Cooper Seam in Overturned Measures 96-98-99-100 

Coosa Coal Field 169 

Cretaceous Formation 157 

Cubical Vein Seam— Overturned Measures 99 

Dailey Creek Basin— Area 105 

Boundaries 103 

Dip of measures 108 

Drainage 104 

Estimate of coal in 105 

First mining in 109 

Roads 104 

Topography 104 

Devonian Formation 154 

Dodd Seam in Overturned Measures 96-97-99 

Drift Formation or Orange Sand 159 

Dry Creek Basin — Area . 75 

Boundaries 74 

Dip cf measures • 76 



|;84 INDEX. • 

DEY CREEK BASIN-Continued. 

Drainage 74 

Estimate of coal 75 

Future importance of 76 

Roads in , 75 

Topography 75 

Eureka Basin — Area 69 

Boundaries 68 

Drainage 68 

Estimate of coal in 69 

Method of working seams in 71 

Strike of measures 69 

Topography 68 

Varying rate oi dip in 70 

Eureka Company's Test SIopw — Section of, in Acton basin 43 

.Faults— Amount of displacement 16-17 

Boundary fault of Cahaba Field 15 

Difference in angle of dip on two sides of 16-17 

Interior faults of Cahaba Field 15 

Reversed thrust faults 142 

Thrust faults 142 

Figh Seam— Overturned Measures 99 

Five Group Seam — Acton basin 45 

Folds in strata in Valley region 140-141 

Fort Payne Chert Sub-Carboniferou3 155 

Gholson or Woodstock Seam — Blocton basin . 114 

Dailey Creek Basin, sections and 

analyses 106-107-109-110 



LoUey basin 

Gould Basin — Area 


85 

79 


Boundaries 


78 


Dip of measures 


82 


Drainage 


79 


Estimate of amount of coal 


79 


Roads 


80 


Topography 


79 


Gould Seam — Acton basin 


44 


Blocton basin 


114 


Cahaba basin 

Gould basin 


63-65-66 

80-81 


Half Yard Seam— Dailey Creek basin 

Harkness Seam — Acton basin 


106 

45 


Helena basin 

Helena basin -Area 


64 

59 


Boundaries 


47 


Disturbances in measures of 

Drainage 


48 

59 


Estimate of coal 

General section across 


59 

50 


Roads 


48 



INDEX. 185 

HELENA BASIN-Continued. 

Topography 59 

Varying dip of measures 59 

Helena Seam —Analysis of coal 72-73-77 

Dailey Creek basin 108 

Dry Creek basin 76 

Eureka basin 69-70 

Helena basin 57-58 

Henryellen basin 27-35-36 

Lolley basin 86 

Overturned Measures 98 

Sections of 35-26-57-58-86-98 

Henryellen Basin — Analysis 20-37 

, . Boundaries 21 

Drainage 29-30 

Estimate of coal in 36 

Eoads 22 

Section across 23 

Thickness of measures 37 

Topography 29 

Jones' y&lley — Cambrian formation in 173, 176, 178 

Eastern Bed Mountain 172-178 

Exceptions to general plan of structure 170 

General description 170 

Knox Dolomite of 173, 175, 175 

South Highlands , 173 

Western Bed Mountain : 172, 178 

Knox Dolomite — Description of rocks of 150 

Lancashire Mining Methods 120 

Lemley Seam —Analysis of coal , 102 

Overturned Measures 99 

Xjolley Basin — Area 85 

Big falls 89 

Boundaries • 83 

Dip of measures 89 

Drainage 83 

Estimate of coal 85 

Eoads 84 

Topography 83 

Little Mayberry Creek — Section along 97 

Little Pittsburgh Seam —Analysis of coal 72 

Dailey Creek basin 107 

Eureka basin 69, 70 

Helena basin 54 

Henryellen basin 54 

Lolley basin 85 

Sections of 34, 35, 54 

Luke Seam — Dailey Creek basin 108 

Lolley basin 88 

Montevallo basin 92, 94 



186 INDEX. 

Mammoth Seam — Analysis of coal 31, 32 

Analysis of ash 38 

Analysis of coke 38 

Hcniyellea basin 28 

Section of 26 

Split in 26 

Llap of Cahaba Field— Account of its doTelopment 1,2 

Martin Seam, in Acton basin 45 

Mining Methoils 118 

MonongaLela Mining Methods 118, 119 

Montevallo Basin— Area 91 

Boundaries 90 

Drainage 91 

Estimate of coal 92 

Eoads 91 

Topography 91 

Montevallo Coal and Transportation Company 94 

Montevallo Conglomerate— LoUey basin 88 

Montevallo basin 91 

Overturned Measures 97 

Montevallo- Change of direction of boundary of Cahaba Field near. . 168 

Montevallo Seam— Analyses of coal 94 

Jjailf y creek basin 108 

Dry creek basin. 76 

Lolley basin 87 

Montevallo basin 92 

Sections of 87-93 

Montevallo Shales— Described 148 

Mountain Limestone 156 

Sandstone bed in 156-157 

Quarried at Bangor, Blount Springs and Truss- 

ville 157 

Moyle Seam — Analyses of coal 72 

Eureka basin 72 

Helena basin , . 54 

Nunnally Seam— Acton basin 45 

Cahaba ba^in 64 

Gould basin 81 

Henryellen basin 24 

Section of 81 

Orange Sand or Drift 159 

Overturned Measures— Area 96 

Boundaries, 95 

Dip cf strata 97 

Drainage 95 

Estimate of coal 96 

First mining in 100 

Eoads 96 

Topography , 95 

Oxmoor sandstone and shales 155 



INDEX. 187 

PelliaTn limestone 152 

Piney woods fault , 88 

Poole Seam— Henryellen basin 24 

Section of 29 

Post- Tertiary formations 158 

Pratt's Ferry--SyDcliDal fuld 167 

Pump Seam — Heloua basin 51 

Henry ellen basin 36 

Quarry Seam— Dailey creek basin 107 

Helena basin 55 

Eecl Mountain or Clinlou formation 153 

Koup's Valley— Anti'linal near Vance's 180 

Cambrian rocks in 178-79 

Clinton strata 177, 178, 179, 180 

Ed wards' ore bank 179 

General description. 170 

Knox Dolomite 177, 178, 180 

McAsban mountain , 177-178 

Synclinal in, near Vance's 180 

Salem Breccia 152 

Section— General, across legion shown on maps 161 

Sections of Coal Seams — 

Acton seam, Acton basin 43 

Beebe seam. Overturned measures 99 

Black Fire Clay seam, LoUey basin 88 

Black Sb.tle seam, Helena basin 53 

Buck seam , Helena basin 52 

Cannel seam, Overturned measures 99 

Clark seam, Dailey creek basin 107 

Cooper seam, Overturned measures 99 

Dodd seam. Overturned measures 99 

Eureka Go's Slope seam, Acton basin 43 

Gholson seam, Dailey creek basin 107 

Gould seam, Gould basin 81 

Helena seam, Dry Creek basin 77 

Helena basin 57-58 

Henry ellen basin 35-36 

LoUey basin 86 

Overturned measures 98 

Little Pittsburgh seam, Helena basin 54 

Henry ellen basin 34-35 

Mammoth seam, Henryellen basin 26 

Montevallo seam, Lolley basin 87 

Monievallo basin 93 

Poole seam, Henryellen basin 29 

Pump seam, Henryellen basin 36 

Shaft seam. Overturned measures 99 

Thompson seam , Blocton basin 114 

Three Feet seam. Overturned measures 99 



188 INDEX. 

SECTIONS OF GOAL SEAMS— Contimied. 

Wadsworth seam, Cahaba basio 66 

Eureka basia 71 

Helena basin 60-51 

Whetrook seam, Cahaba basin 66 

Woodstock seam, Dailey creek basin 107 

Shades' Valley — Underlying rocks 172 

Shaft Seam — Overturned Measures '. 96 

Sections of 98, 99, 100 

Shute Seam— Cahaba basin 65 

Helena basin 51 

Silurian Formations 150 

Smithshop Seam —Dailey Creek basin 107 

Helena Basin 55 

Strine seam, Dailey creek basin 108 

Lolley basin 88 

Montevallo seam 92-94 

Sub-Carboniferous Formation— General description 155 

Sub-Carboniferous Limestone — Varying thickness of 4 

Thompson, or Underwood, or Conglomerate Seam —Analysis . . . .72-115-116 

Blocton basin 114 

Dailey Creek basin . . . 108-109 

Eureka basin 69, 70 

Lolley basin 85 

Section 114 

Three Feet Seam— Overturned Measures 99 

Trenton Limestone 152 

Tuscaloosa Formation 158 

Underground Haulage 128-129 

Underwood Seam— Same as Conglomerate and Gholson, analysis. 72,115,116 

Blocton basin 114 

Dailey Creek basin 108 

Eureka basin 69, 70 

Lolley basin 85 

Section 114 

Valley Eegions --Cambrian Formations 148 

Choccolocco Shales 148 

Classification of the rocks 146 

Coosa Shales 148 

Dearth of fossils 146 

Distribution of the rocks in 159 

Folds and faults in 141, 142 

Folds not symmetrical 143 

Formation of anticlinal valleys 144 

Formations enumerated )38 

Origin of the rocks 137 

Paleozoic formations defined 146 

Reversal of strata 142 

Reversed thrust faults 142 

Submergence of valley regions at different times. . . . 145 



INDEX. 189 

VALLEY REGIONS— Continued. 

Thrust faults 1*2 

Variations in the rooks, with varying locality 147 

"Wadsworth Seam--Acton basin 45 

Analysis 60, 65, 73 

Blocton basin 114 

Cahaba basin 64 

Eureka basin 69-70 

Helena basin 50-51 

Henryellen basin 25 

Sections of 50, 51, 66, 71 

Weisner Quartzite 149 

Whetrock Seam in Acton basin 45 

Cahaba basin 66 

Helena basin 50 

Section 66 

Woodstock Seam— (Same as Gholson), analysis 110, 115, 116 

Blocton basin 114 

Dailey Creek basin 106, 109 

Lolley basin 85 

Section 107 

Yeshic Seam —Dailey Creek basin 108 

Lolley basin 86 



